ANBU Naruto becomes a student of Beacon
by 10000future naruto
Summary: A crossover using Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza with RWBY. Inspired by Between Two Worlds by Ryshe, but continuing and developing the idea in a new direction. After the brief war of the Shinobi Alliance against the Remnant explorers, spurred by the Grimm and death of thousands. Naruto makes his way to Remnant as per the ceasefire accord with conflicting emotions for peace or war.
1. Chapter 1

**Author note:**

 **High all... Been a while since I typed something up and truthfully I just got bored writing the other stories so left them for now. Have no idea if I will continue them cause I only write if I want to duh. I'll deal with PM's another time as I haven't logged on since my last chapter upload like half a year ago or so**

 **I, however, had been reading some other fanfiction material, two of which has inspired this story when I was dumbstruck with an awesome story idea after watching RWBY animation on youtube. Essentially it is a crossover from a highly reviewed Naruto fanfiction story I really liked and an RWBY story that I simply can't get out of my head. They are of course Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza and Between Two Worlds by Ryshe.**

 **I recommend reading Life in Konoha's ANBU because that is the basis for my Naruto part of the story as both worlds interact in a similar scenario played by the Between Two Worlds story. Both are some of my favourite fics and I got the sudden inspiration to combine the two. I'd ask permission from the two, but they haven't been touched for a while so I'm not sure they would reply. Still I'll send them a message of gratitude.**

 **Although Life in Konoha's ANBU isn't finished, there are some concepts and events I will be filling in for continuation purposes to further understand the dynamics of the story. Some are mentioned here and I will go into detail about them in later chapters such as Akatsuki civil war and interaction with Nagato. I am on holidays for a while and I really like the idea of this story so I am likely to stay on this for a while, especially since RWBY is still being released and is nowhere near done or boring, short and sweet after all. That being said flaming would work to determent my inspiration**

 **That being said I own nothing related to anime except the products. All recognition goes to those that made the anime and manga possible.**

 **Chapter 1: Prologue, Welcome to Vale**

Naruto looked out through one of the many windows adorning the Vale airship. It was a small ship compared to others he had seen and he had been on board a full week to reach Vale. He watched as the Atlas and Vale military escort ships and personnel that had been so graciously 'returned' by the Shinobi alliance as a 'gesture of goodwill', few that they were departed after crossing the ocean towards Remanent. The officers on board were, of course, glaring daggers at him and talking behind his back with open hostility the entire way, obviously still pissed at their spectacular military defeat and death of thousands of comrades against the newly formed Shinobi Alliance now encompassing the entirety of the elemental countries. He never thought he would see the day, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, Konoha, Suna, all the core military powers on the continent and the various small countries surrounding them more notably Taki and Ame all allied together. To believe Nagato and his dream for peace in the Elemental Nations would blossom not even a full year before his declaration. Of course, it helped that the idiots from Remnant decided to launch an 'invasion' against them along with the appearance of Grim in different countries. Regardless he knew that the Shinobi would be able to take care of them in time, most were rather weak and can be easily dealt with by Genin teams and C rank missions. One thing is for certain though is that the Elemental Nations, ninja and samurai alike would be busy for a long time to come, new technology, methods of thinking, new potential resources would ensure all departments, especially that of research and development would be busy innovating and adapting for a long time yet.

Naruto looked out at the city taking note of its distinct architecture. It was very different from the style used back home with buildings built on stone, far different from the primary wooden structures of Konoha and most ninja villages. The closest to them he could think of were of the skyscrapers of Ame and certain ruins in Suna, which had towers of stone that reached dozens upon dozens of meters, if not more into the sky. The ones he was seeing, however, were much smaller and compact and didn't have pipes going off them showing a bit of elegance and aesthetic appeal in the urban environment. There were, of course, advantages and disadvantages for the architecture using either material such as sturdiness and ability to construct, repair, replace and most of all the cost, but it wasn't his place to comment on Vale's designs. He watched on as the airship continued through and around the city picking up the new prospecting students for beacon academy. He had after all been debriefed on his mission, but still knowing who they were didn't alleviate his concerns over this high S-ranked mission. Curse that perverted old man for putting him up to this.

 _Flashback: After the ceasefire agreement._

"Ferret", Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with rigid seriousness in his office surrounded by different commanders of Konoha, the remaining loyal Sennin, elite Jonin and ANBU of significant importance. As expected not even a second later Ferret appeared in a cloud of smoke kneeling in front of him, ANBU mask on and ready for orders.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"As you are aware the elemental countries are to send a representative over to Vale." The Kage paused to take a smoke of his pipe. "It has been agreed upon by the leaders of the Shinobi alliance as well as the Daimyo that you are the best 'child' to represent the elemental nations and their interests in Vale". Naruto tensed slightly, but eye twitched in annoyance at the mention of child. He was being presented what would undoubtedly end up being a long and hard S-class mission.

Breathing more smoke from the pipe then exhaling slowly Hiruzen then continued to outline the details of the arrangement.

"This S- class mission, however, would require you to attend a school in Vale called Beacon academy."

At the mention of school Naruto slightly lost composure from his kneeling position before reaffirming himself.

"Permission to speak Hokage-sama."

"Permission not granted."

"Naruto spluttered a bit behind the Ferret mask before speaking anyway standing up and pointing at him."

"Wh- What the hell old man! After all the stuff I've done, you want to send me back to school, Why not someone else!?"

"Ferret, you spoke out of line. As punishment, you will be cleaning and filing away the information departments excess paperwork, which will be done to tonight. Am I clear..." the Hokage instantly replied with a slight smirk on his face watching as the young blond spluttered again in annoyance and confusion. The rest of the onlookers smirking or giggling at the two's antics.

"Now I know it's hard to get through that puny little brain of yours, but I will indulge you why. You have a 'decent' reputation around the elemental nations," Naruto's eye twitched at the understatement, "you are of a good age, and 'okay' at dealing with paperwork." Naruto's eye twitched again.

Hiruzen paused to take another brief smoke letting the words sink in. "Not only will you be 'representing' the elemental nations and Konoha in particular, but also assigned to gather as much information as possible on Remnant, which for now will be sent and delivered through your summons until appropriate means of communications can be established across continents. Additionally, we have a ceasefire, not a peace treaty. If war breaks out you would be expected to survive and as such it is unanimously agreed by the Kage council and the Daimyo's that you are fit for the mission. There is no one else."

Ferret let the words sink in understanding the deeper importance of the mission. Information was important and there was still a lot unknown about Remanent and their people as well as the Grimm creatures appearing. He had a duty to protect the citizens of Konoha and Hi no Kuni and now the rest of the elemental nations. This was more than a simple S- ranked mission.

"That and your pretty much useless here now anyways." Hiruzen finished after a pause. He did really like messing with his pupil.

Naruto's eye twitched at the lost moment of awesomeness he was feeling as the occupants smirked again.

"You have till tomorrow morning to prepare. Now dismissed, the papers aren't going to file themselves away now are they."

"B-but."

"Dismissed."

"Crazy perverted old man", Naruto muttered under his breath

"What was that?" Hiruzen spoke up, a dangerous amount of KI being admitted towards Naruto.

"Nothing", he spoke one last time in slight fright before shunshining out of the Kage room, the remaining occupants laughing.

Jiraiya spoke up "Trying to get the most of his last few hours here. We're really going to miss that brat."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya again, this time with a melancholic smile "I know".

 _Flashback end._

Curse that old man. Doesn't he know that without him who's gonna help out with paperwork and clean the house and make them breakfast. Naruto thought for a moment and sighed, he guessed that Konohamaru would be picking up the slack along with another genin team. Poor kids, they would be scarred for life.

Naruto looked at the window again, this time taking in his reflection of what he saw as cool 'man', a black top, cream long pants with a kunai pouch tied on his right thigh, a specialised wakizashi sword on his left, a large storage scroll on his back, Tsunade's necklace and, of course, his long orange coat with black flames on the bottom designed after his father's signature coat. He was 16 now and he really did look so much like his father from the pictures except with whisker marks and a scar going down his left eye thanks to the asshole Madara. So much has happened in the 6 and a half years since he took a more active role outside Konoha. From the invasion and destruction of the Sky village and their flying fortress to his participation in the Kiri civil war to the pact with Nagato and the Akatsuki civil war leading to the first steps of the Shinobi alliance.

As much as he wanted to hate Vale, Atlas and pretty much all of Remanent for the death of innocents, he couldn't deny how much of a help they were. The alliance was initially shaky, teamwork and disclosure of information was a problem even with the strong leadership spurred by Nagato. This, however, changed with the appearance of grim and the Remanent invaders along with the death of thousands of innocents across the Elemental continent. There was now a common enemy to fight.

Better yet as the alliance won simultaneous battles on the northern front in Earth country and the southern front in Fire country after driving out the initial 'invasion', they were able to capture swaths of technology and gain significant information and innovation potential both for military and for civilian use. Guns, energy shielding ideas, armour and more notably several Atlesian and regular airships captured. To top it off under the strategic command of Shukaku Nara and Shikamaru Nara, losses were less than initially estimated in part from the hard work of Tsunade and good strategic thinking and while casualties were high, wounds will heal in time. Remnant forces, on the other hand, suffered stunning defeats, many were killed, most were captured including some of their airships. Naruto couldn't help but smile at that. In the end, the elemental nations came to the negotiating table with a significant advantage and bargaining chips on their own captured crafts in hopes to sue for a ceasefire until they got their bearings. After all, they were not ready for full combat against the other half of the world when they hardly knew anything about them.

That's where he came in though he would have preferred if it was done black ops style instead of going through school. Sure it helped the image of the Elemental Nations, but school was school and it was boring when he remembered it. To top it off he was not only on a mission but also in enemy territory attending their school for their version of ninja who undoubtedly heard the news and deaths of thousands of their own, quite a few by his own hand mind you, which hopefully they don't know. It is already guaranteed that the students and teachers would hate him. It was going to be a long 4 years and quite possibly the most lonely and most on guard for in his life. Guess it made sense he was the only one qualified, seeing someone like Konohamaru try and go through it would undoubtedly end in disaster. Probably should have recommended Sasuke, though Itachi probably would be pissed and haunt him in death, but hey they both owed him big time. Should have cashed in.

Naruto sighed

The Airship to beacon was filling up as more students and potential students started piling on. Some were initially curious about him, he was, after all, wearing distinct clothing. This changed however as one female approached nudging him his side and out of curiosity, he turned his head to face her. She initially blushed as she analysed his face, but as she saw the headband she froze, took a step back before tripping, then scurrying away as if to get away from a monster. Naruto sweat dropped at the action though he was expecting something along the lines, just less comical.

He watched on briefly as the attention of the dozen or so passengers were drawn to the action and to him and as expected they took a step back in fear. Naruto turned back around to stare out the window and it didn't take long for his acute sense of hearing to pick out the whispers about him, some were, of course, fearful and negative about him, some were even harsh insults, those he didn't mind as it was to be expected. The most curious ones, however, were those of whispers of confusion. It was as if they hadn't been informed he was coming and he was sure something like this would be front paper news. Well, as long as the insults weren't substantial he was not obliged to act or deter them. He did, after all, participate in the brief war and this was their territory, no harm no foul.

Another hour passed with the whispering continuing and with clear evidence of people avoiding him. There was like a 5-meter radius from where he was and the remaining areas looked like they were getting crowded as more people filled up. There were, of course, people that walked in the radius, all were unaware but were, of course, pulled out by one bystander or another before the situation was explained. Seriously didn't word get around he was coming here, or was it just that they didn't expect him on board the airship on the way to the academy.

Naruto was taken out of his thoughts of frustration by a particularly loud shout and the cheery attitude contrasted to the immensely tense atmosphere. "I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me, This is the best day ever."

His eyes were drawn to a striking figure of a voluptuous girl dressed in a leather jacket and half-skirt wore over short-shorts and a crop top. The girls curvy figure and toned, bare midriff would have drawn attention enough by themselves, but her long, wild mane of blonde hair and energetic nature made her stick out like a beacon amongst the crowd. Sort of reminded him of Tsunade, another traitor that put him here. He took note of the one she was crushing in an affectionate hug while crooning happily. Aside from skin tone, the two looked very different with the exchange of words only revealing they were siblings. The smaller girl wore a red trimmed black dress and of all things a long bright red cloak. With bright silver eyes and shorter hair with a darker coloured red fading towards the ends to frame a round face. This second girl leaned more towards cuteness than the confident beauty of the other girl. She was also a lot shorter though that could be a factor of her age which was still hard to tell. He took note to listen in, simply because he was bored and anything else he listened in on was either something about him or nonsensical garbage.

"Oh, but I'm so proud of you!"

"Really sis it was nothing."

"What do you mean, it was incredible. Everyone in Beacon is going to think your the bee's knees."

"I don't want to be the Bee's knees, okay I don't want to be any kind of knees, I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."

"What's with you, aren't you excited?"

"Of course, I'm excited, I just... I moved ahead 2 years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything" the red one continued slightly downtrodden.

"But you are special."

Naruto smiled at the sisterly love. He supposed it was a nice change of mood compared to the constant tension he'd been dealing with all week, even though the interaction close to him had been spurred by simply ignoring his presence and the tension in the atmosphere.

Suddenly his eavesdropping was interrupted by what he assumed was a holographic broadcast with recent news, something of far more importance. He had to admit, though, Remnants technology was far ahead of their own, but he smiled at the idea of the gap closing rapidly spurred on by their victory and fuinjutsu.

"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts please contact the Vale police department, back to you Lisa." Naruto took note of the figure on screen, orange hair with dark green eyes. It appears Remanent has its own problems, although not as extensive as that of the elemental nations.

"Thank you Sero, in other news, this Saturday's Faunus civil rights protest turned dark when members of the white fang disrupted the ceremony." Naruto took note of the image on the screen, people with prominent animal features. This is big information that must be relayed to the leading departments of the alliance, after all, the enemy with internal civil unrest could play a big role with Remnants power as a whole, something that could be taken advantage of. He'd have to research more about this problem for an adequate report.

He watched as the image changed again to a red logo of a wolf with three claw marks going through. Naruto memorised the exact detail of the image, would draw it up later and find more information about it afterwards for his report. Every bit of information counts and every ninja knows the value of information.

"The once peaceful organisation has now disrupted". The reporter continued before stopping briefly to listen in more carefully on what Naruto assumed was an earpiece.

"Hold on... We're just getting breaking news. It appears there has been a breakthrough in negotiations with the newly identified Shinobi Alliance. Still much remains unknown about them, however, to accommodate the ceasefire agreement a respected member of the alliance has been sent to attend beacon academy and will be there in... I'm sorry... Will be there for today's ceremony."

Before the reporter Lisa could continue however, the news report was interrupted by a new hologram appearing of a middle-aged woman with light blond hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her bright green eyes and glasses aiding to give her the mature look. All in all like Tsunade but serious in her work and non-alcoholic.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon, my name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an unprecedented time of peace." Naruto scoffed at that. It appears the hologram hasn't been updated as of late, then again who could blame them.

"And as future huntsmen and huntresses it's your duty to uphold it" another scoff.

"You have demonstrated such a task and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world".

Naruto thought to himself. From what he had been briefed, Huntsmen and Huntresses were just like Shinobi and Kunoichi. They did missions with their own rankings and are institutionally trained to take on the variety of missions. There were however also some stark differences, for instance, ninja's undergo more rigid training academically and also in combat, start and graduate early into teams with a Jonin for missions to focus on experience and sharpening skills. Hunters go through institutions for a longer time and take missions on exclusive events for internship purposes. One other significant difference mentioned is that hunters train primarily to combat monsters while Ninja, on the other hand, train to combat humans. Naruto really couldn't help but laugh at the irony. Grimm were never truly the monsters, only people and because of their key targets, the Ninja would always have an advantage over them.

Still it was going to be an interesting 4 years at the academy.

 **Chapter End**

 **Please read and review. No pointless flaming, it disheartens writers from completing stories which are pointless since all you need to do is not read on a completely free site for stories.**

 **As I'm still wrapping my head around the story, I may do some edits in the future. The concept will remain the same so.**

 **Read and Review**


	2. Chapter 2

**ANBU Naruto becomes a student of Beacon Chapter 2**

 **Author Note.**

 **Just note some parts had been copied and edited from Between Two Worlds, so big thanks** **to the author Ryshe.**

 **I am making a bit of a complex story and truth been told I haven't read Life in Konoha's ANBU to an extent where I remember everything and as such am reading it again. I'm reading it again now and will, therefore, be making adjustments to my posted chapters. For now, it is just small bits, but in the overall picture, they will have a big impact. Some changes are included below for chapter 1:**

 **Naruto is 16 and a half years old.**

 **Itachi is dead, Sasuke remains alive.**

 **Naruto is wearing Tsunade's necklace (forgot to mention that).**

 **Change the overall feel around total casualties and death toll (forgot to adjust that).**

 **Naruto has a large storage scroll attached to his back.**

 **From watching RWBY again, I just realised how dark the world is and how horribly evil Ruby is though I don't plan to reflect Ruby in that way in my story. She carries a sniper scythe and from what happened in Mount Glenn and other combat instances, all those Faunus are dead, some even bisected in half as she continues to smile like nothing is wrong with the world. Truly dark. This new revelation won't reflect in my story.**

 **There was one critical review I wanted to address as Undead3 has brought up some valid points and would help you understand the premise of the story. I've watched Game of thrones so look underneath the underneath to better understand what i'm getting at. Towards the end of the chapter you'll get a better idea.**

 **-Nations of remanent sort of did surrender, more around the idea of the ceasfire will be explained in later chapters. I can't pour everything in the prologue. It has to do with politics and why Naruto is sent to the Academy after all. Some of it is mentioned below, he is after all a badass from the story Life in Konoha's ANBU.**

 **-You are right, I incorrectly alluded to an low casualties and death count. I will adjust that as mentioned above.**

 **-For the potential huntsmen acting in fear. There is a reason why, that has been explained below. If you don't understand what I'm getting at pop another review and I'll tell you, its not that subtle in this chapter. the prologue was a bit of a teaser for the upcoming themes of the story.**

 **-For the shinobi coming out on top, yes, of course or Naruto wouldn't be at their school. The Details and the themes of the combination story will make sense very soon in later chapters, but if you read Life in Konoha's ANBU, you'll understand there is strategy to the political moves.**

 **-As for one-punch man. No they're not. I will adjust the casualties and death toll to make it more obvious. Hunters and Huntsmen and the military of Remnant are use to fighting and training against Grimm, Shinobi are used to fighting and training against people in all fields, medical, intellectual, tactical and more and actively kill people which remnant do not. They would come out on top, plus population is greater.**

 **-As for thousands of foes slain with no losses, I think you misunderstood. Thousands are dead across the elemental nations because of Grimm, their people. They saw a connection to Remnant (will be explained further chapters) and attacked them. Details will come later, read the chapter and you'll better understand what I'm getting at. Idea is similar to Between Two worlds, I just want to capitalise on it**

 **Chapter 2: Beacon Academy**

 ** _Weeks prior to present day. Battle for South Hi no Kuni._**

Naruto watched perched on top of a tree branch overlooking the vast southern plain. He watched as the opposing forces from the landmasses across the ocean continued to make landfall with their powerful airships, most dropping off soldiers and supplies while two remained stationary in the air likely to provide air support until the forward base of operations is set. He counted 8 airships in total and from looking ground side he estimated an army of 15 000 to 20 000 at least, most were those automated metal puppets they faced before, more yet still remained unaccounted for inside the airships. He watched as makeshift tents either with crates full of supplies, weapons and ammunition were erected or simply acted as on field living quarters. Additionally, it looked like the enemy was trying to set up a large wall around the camp with large guns adorning the posts.

The plan would need to be changed.

Naruto with his signature Ferret mask covering his face was adorned in the newly specialised ANBU chakra armour developed and presently being mass produced in part to the technological prowess of Iron Country, Snow/ Spring Country and them working together with the manafactorium in Bird country. He still couldn't believe how successful Konohamaru was on the mission and to believe he would end up saving a princess of such a technologically advanced country. Never thought he would see that ever happen, though of course other villages have started to produce their own, but not as efficiently as the co-operation between the manufacturing powers.

Notably, the new armour was far different to the regular ANBU armour in that it utilised a specialised light metal material adorned with chakra making it less flexible but tougher compared to the ANBU leather armour. The present design was just a prototype, but due to recent events saw to its immediate mass production for the Shinobi alliance. It, however, just like regular ANBU and other black ops armour throughout the nations was adorned with fuinjutsu seals and projectile resistant properties brought about by the new weapons the enemy used, guns. It was supposed to still be in development with rumours circulating around shielding just like their enemies, but the advantage it would bring was far too important for it to be shelved for a time, after all with or without the shielding, the armour hindered the enemies combat rounds most of their weapons emitted.

Naruto briefly looked back at the forces hiding out in the trees and on the ground assessing overall moral. Everyone was tense but was also excited, likely eager for some form of vengeance for the thousands of innocents lost on their land. He looked again taking in their details analysing possible combat advantages or disadvantages they held. Some ninjas were adorned in the new specialised armour, most black while others decorated in different colours. Most ninja however still wore their respective villages flak jackets and vests signifying Chunin and Jonin ranks.

Most didn't wear masks due to the manufacturing limit and costs producing them. Those however that wore distinguishable ninja masks of animals, demons or unique human features were of greater notoriety, notably of significant Jonin rank or respected black - ops operatives from Suna, Kumo or Konoha. Few Kiri and Iwa operatives were with them, most already in place for tactical manoeuvring and therefore, were out of sight for now.

There were, of course, significant inclusions of samurai from the Land of Iron as well as from the regular armies as part of the Shinobi alliance, but they, of course, fell into a separate category of their own being decked out in reinforced steel armour with seals. They were made for direct heavy fights and as such would make up the bulk of the forward battle line units while the ninja made for speed and stealth and would use more indirect tactics to engage the opposition.

One final, but important addition was that some of those of lower rank, chunin and the weaker samurai were provided newly developed projectile weaponry in thanks to Konoha and their victory over the Sky Country forces. Most, however, were still being given to the new combat division Konoha had developed for its armed forces after all the defeat of Sky Country and the acquisition and development of their technologies have created new breakthroughs in the Land of Fire, which of course had not gone unnoticed with more clientele pouring in.

The now infamous kunai launcher was one of the more notable developments.

These days the Kunai launcher acted as a great supplement weapon against their enemy's 'guns' and although the guns were still far more developed and advanced, kunai launches were still a dangerous weapon to contend with. To believe new developments of storage and propulsion seals working in tandem would create such a revolutionary weapon. Of course for the more experienced and elite of ninja, such a weapon would only serve as a hindrance in their hands and as such it was designated to those that would put it to good use on the battlefield.

Naruto looked to his left and watched as Kitsune, Kakashi Hatake, Darui and Shikamaru, the key field commanders for the southern campaign relay the new development to the command centre and to who he assumed was Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka as well as the Kages heading the key strategic offensives for Iwa and Konoha as well as any new Grimm activities. He honestly expected the enemy to continue their advance directly to Konoha in their large airships after all, the Shinobi alliance hasn't demonstrated any aerial combat capabilities as of yet. He was hoping to start the attack against them by going into Kyuubi mode and launching Biju dama balls at the airships, but he still didn't have much control like Killer Bee who was on the other front. He really only got lucky against Madara Uchiha and the opposing Akatsuki. It would cause more harm than good using it now and besides if what he was seeing was true search and destroy would change to capture and control.

Initially, the forward force was supposed to only do guerrilla tactics against the opposing air force while slowly falling back into the secondary defensive line for a renewed assault, kinda the reason why those recognised for speed and projectile techniques were on the forward assault. However with what's happening the method of assault will change to capitalise on potential gains.

"Kitsune. What's the order?" Naruto spoke up.

"Strategy has changed to control and capture. We wait for the secondary position personnel to reinforce the forward assault teams before we commence a direct offensive."

Kitsune paused, likely getting new strategic orders from command. "The Aerial personnel will deal diversion tactics for the airships and flying units. Our key objective is to capture the docked airships and take prisoners if possible."

Kitsune paused again. "By the looks of the airships and the large cannons plastered on the sides, they deal significant area damage and are likely difficult to react against speed attacks. We have the advantage of mobility and the inability of the enemy to use the large guns effectively. It is also imperative that such destructive power doesn't make it to any highly populated centres."

Naruto contemplated on the new orders and the tactics involved. If they could pull this assault off successfully they would not only capture a whole assortment of lucrative technologies and weaponry, but also airships and prisoners which would become a significant bargaining chip on the negotiation table. Sure there was still some language barriers preventing the T and I departments from gaining important information about them, but he was sure in time such a hurdle would be overcome.

 ** _Present day._**

Naruto looked out the window as the airship broke past the cloud banks and straight into the view of beacon academy. Naruto was awed by the beauty from the window. Vale was an impressive sight, but Beacon academy was a league on its own. Beacon academy was adorned with complex ornate buildings and elegant spires towering to the sky and the largest clock tower he had ever seen, only comparable to the smaller buildings of Amegakure. To top it off the academy was surrounded by rivers all running off towards the cliff and down into a larger lake as well as mountains and forests. It was a far cry from the constant urban setting Vale had established itself as.

To believe this was Beacon academy, the institution that took in the most skilled young fighters throughout Remnant and turn them into powerful hunters and huntresses. This was to be his home for the next four years. Konoha's ninja academy could really learn a thing or two from Beacon's aesthetic design and would probably improve their clientele by people just looking at it. On the bright side of thing's this school/ representative mission would be a welcome break from the annoying Kage paperwork, which undoubtedly has increased since the war and creation of the alliance.

Naruto watched and waited as the airship stabilised itself over the docking pad in front of Beacon academy. He decided to wait a bit as everyone departed, some leaving quickly giving him a brief glance before running off, others not caring or simply not knowing who he was and going at their own pace.

After several minutes, he to walked out the airship and although the scenery was one of the best things he'd ever seen in his life, the effect was lost on him as his situation dawned once again about his unique set of problems. Well, at least, it wasn't going to be as bad as the Kiri civil war, he doubted anything would top that mission in enemy territory. It still brought shivers down his spine now knowing Yagura had been subtly influenced into his insanity against bloodlines by the now dead Obito Uchiha.

As Naruto walked down the pathway to the main building taking into account the shrubs, trees and lamp posts adorning the sides, he took note of students walking and rushing about. He quickly noticed the young girl decked out in red who he now identified as Ruby from eavesdropping being shouted at by another girl who was almost decked out in white. From what he could see she had long white hair done up in a pony tail and wore a white combat skirt with the insides adorned in red along with noticeably heeled wedged boots. the most important feature he paid attention to was the distinct rapier she had to her side. Essentially her appearance was screaming prestige no matter what way you looked at her.

Naruto decided to observe their interaction from afar. He knew making friends at the school was going to be hard with the reputation of the Elemental nations and all, but Ruby seemed like the type to get along with anyone so why not. All he had to do was wait for the right moment to strike. He was a ninja after all and he sure wasn't going to spend the next four years as a loner. If war did break out, he'd cross the bridge when it got there, hell the idea of it breaking out may even provide him extra incentive to ensure peace between both factions.

Naruto watched on with mild humour as the Ruby sneezed setting of an explosion of fire and ice leading to the appearance of another girl, adorned in black and white with a bow atop her head. She introduced Weiss as an heiress to the Schnee company while also insulting her with their questionable practices regarding Faunus labour and partnerships. This peaked his interest because he remembered Winter Schnee, and how could he forget her, he did end up fighting her and when their side surrendered she 'helped' teach him their language. He had been mildly briefed on the Schnee company as a whole and was officially a target of interest regarding Dust and Grimm. As a large company information about them is crucial because in war time they would be the key supplier for the enemy and in peace time potential trade partners for international commerce.

Now that he thought about it there was so much stuff he had to look into and report about. The bright side of it was it was about another culture which would be fun, far better than reading through D- ranked mission reports that should be renamed chores.

For now, though he would need to focus more on developing his communications skills and establishing relationships. He had spent weeks upon weeks learning the language, after all, communication was important through war time and even after he didn't stop. He even had hundreds of shadow clones aiding him to do so for weeks. That was why he was decently proficient in their language and able to understand them. He really should thank the T and I department for setting the necessary communication templates up, books, audio tapes and more. He supposed they would appreciate it through heavy, detailed and extensive information reports. Something he shouldn't be letting them down in anyway. An image of Kakashi appeared in his mind.

Elsewhere Kakashi sneezed as he read a new book, 'Ninja's of Love'.

Naruto watched on as Weiss plucked the bottle of dust out of the black haired girls hands and stomped off in irritation, her personal butlers following behind with her trolley full of white suitcases. Man, what's with Vale and their obsession with colour, then again he supposed he shouldn't comment since he was obsessed over orange, or, in other words, his awesome orange cloak with black flames on the bottom. Every moment sewing and knitting it together was worth it, especially since the clones did all the work.

At that though Naruto felt mildly depressed considering he was still a young 'man' and the old fart had him growing up as part ninja, part chore boy. So lost in his thoughts Naruto missed the black haired girl walk off behind him and seeing Ruby fall on her knees in sadness.

'Oh God, how many people just saw me explode myself!? Way to make a good impression Ruby.' The girl in Red thought to herself

"guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day."

Naruto approached the downed Ruby, her just noticing him as his shadow overlapped her face.

"Hey there," Naruto spoke up offering his hand out for her to get up and greet.

"I'm Naruto."

"Ruby." she replied as she used his hand as support to get off the ground.

Ruby looked him over. She had to admit he looked nice with him being just below Yang's height. He had the nice exotic feel to him and was easy with the eyes, had good taste in clothing and an orange coat with black flames on the bottom. That was pretty awesome in her books. She also noticed a pretty green crystal around his neck, it was out of place, but it really suited him. What really set him apart from the rest of the students, however, was the blue headband and metal plate atop his head with a symbol of a leaf etched on. She was mildly confused on what it was.

Ruby who wasn't particularly up to date with the news that wasn't related to advancements in weapons technology didn't recognise the headband, the symbol or who he was. She was after all 15 and was a girl with her own passions. Hardly anyone her age watched or cared about the news, or so she thought.

Naruto looked on as all he saw was mild confusion on her face, no fear or anything. This really brought him in a loop, but whatever, he'd take any chance he could get to converse with anyone. Her being a girl was just a bonus.

"So, from all and the explosions I'm gonna assume you're completely new here just like me. Oh, you okay by the way?"

Ruby blushed in embarrassment,

"I- I'm fine. Just a bit... Frazzled." The explosion was small and she had her Aura active absorbing most of the blast.

It was an awkward walk down the path. She cursed Yang for abandoning her with all the strangers, it wasn't even three minutes until something bad happened, her exploding and almost setting a fellow student on fire, Weiss, heiress of the Schnee family if she remembered correctly. It just happened all so fast with her being yelled at, all the new people it was almost a haze and to top it off a pretty boy appears in front of her creating a quiet, but awkward atmosphere.

"Uh... So my names Ruby by the way." She said awkwardly hoping to start a conversation as they walked down the pathway.

"I know, you mentioned that when I helped you up," Naruto spoke nonchalantly, hands behind his head just happy to take the stroll having been cooped up in the airship for some time.

Ruby blushed in embarrassment again. 'Right', she thought with determination. 'If I'm going to make friends I've got to make the first move. With her new found determination she relied on the one thing she always had confidence in.

"Sooo, I got this thing," She said as she proceeded to grab the red rectangular object from her back.

Naruto watched with mild interest. He himself had no idea what to say after all he had no idea how people conversed in this part of the world, but he did appreciate her attempts to get him to communicate.

As soon as Ruby pulled out the object it immediately unfolded to into a large red scythe with a gun as the handle and the tip hitting the ground with a thud. Naruto was immediately shocked before composing himself. It was just out of place that a small girl would be holding such a large and dangerous looking weapon that was bigger than her. Then again he had seen more obscure things in his ninja career, the Cult of Jashin to name one. Still for some reason it just seemed to fit her, probably because of all the red she was carrying. Seriously what's with it with Huntsmen and Huntresses carrying such weird weapons. At least the regular military soldiers and the metal puppets they controlled seemed standardised.

"W- Wow, you carry that thing and you can fight with it. It looks bigger than you. You must really train hard to carry it." Naruto spoke mildly surprised.

"Thanks." She smiled 'Heh, that got his attention.' she thought to herself as a small chibi her danced in her mind in victory.

"She's a High- Calibre Sniper Scyth. She's called Crescent Rose, designed and built her myself." She continued beating her chest in pride.

"Huh, never seen a weapon like that before and I've seen and heard of a lot of unique weapons. Isn't it heavy for a little thing like you to carry?" Naruto spoke. He was genuinely interested. If kids like her were attending the academy then he'd really underestimated the school he was going to.

"Heh, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I did go overboard designing her." She beamed in happiness.

"She's lighter than she looks, lightweight metal," She spoke and to demonstrate her point Ruby lifted up her weapon single handily and jingled it around. Naruto was impressed and it showed on his face.

"If its lighter, that means it's less sturdy and, therefore, prone to frequent repairs and maintenance. Isn't that a problem?"

"A bit, but she's my baby you know and she's a part of me. I enjoy spending time on her, repairing her, improving her." Ruby paused a moment realising what she said.

"Sorry if I sound a bit weird."

"No problem at all. I thought your dedication was cute." Naruto smiled.

"You'd make a great weapons expert back home. I know someone who'd love to meet you. You sort of act like her when it comes to weapons, though she hordes a variety of different types and so far you seem pretty set on keeping one." Ruby beamed at that. She was glad Naruto didn't think she was weird, she did, after all, have trouble making friends in Signal academy because of her eccentricity towards weapons.

"So, what've you got?" She spoke as she put Crescent Rose away back behind her.

Hesitating slightly, Naruto relented to her puppy eyed face and dropped his left hand to pull out his Wakizashi and prepared to show case other weapons such as Kunai, Shuriken, explosive notes and smoke bombs he stored on himself. He thought it was okay seeing he was going to use them and limit the abilities he had to showcase. Besides it was quite openly used against them in the war so everyone probably already knew about them.

Sure he was not overly close to his weapon like Ruby was to hers or even that of the legendary swordsmen of the hidden mist or Yugao Uzuki and Hayate Gekko of ANBU. He saw it more as a tool for combat like his kunai and shuriken. Expendable and only there for back up, after all, he was a hand to hand and techniques driven ninja. That and if you lost the weapon you were comfortable using your entire life, you were far less effective against your enemy. This proved a significant advantage against the hunters when the alliance fought them as many were overly reliant on a specific weapon. When disarmed, they were pretty useless and were easily captured and detained.

"Well Ruby, I do have a variety of weapons on me, I'm not limited to using one."

Firstly he showed the Wakizashi, Ruby looked at it closely and he even handed it to her to look at.

"What does it do?"

"Uhh... It cuts stuff."

Ruby faulted. "Is that all it does?" she asked curiously. She had been used to weapons doing more than one thing, swords with guns, swords with specialised dust rotations and so much more.

"Well, it does allow me to channel chakra efficiently through the blade which can have a variety of different effects depending on the user." Naruto continued. He doubted the information would matter anyway. The military was undergoing significant upgrades and the standard Wakizashi would probably be outdated soon enough.

"What's Chakra?" Ruby asked quizzically.

"It's you know, the energy the Ninja and Samurai in the Elemental nations use." Naruto continued though doubt was starting to enter his mind.

"Ohhh... I know what Ninja and Samurai are from story books." This peaked Naruto's attention.

"What's all the rest?" Ruby continued not having heard anything about that. She hadn't after all been keeping up with the news and Yang and dad haven't told her much of anything.

Naruto almost faulted over. Well, it does explain why she was so open to him, still it was a let down knowing her opinion of him could change drastically if she simply started listening more. Had she been a ninja, such a bad habit would get her killed.

Naruto looked seriously at Ruby unnerving her a bit. "You don't listen to the news much do you?"

"Ahahahaha" Ruby laughed good-naturedly.

"Sorry, I don't really keep up with the times. I have pretty much been focusing on weapons, training and new technology coming out for Crescent Rose." She spoke counting off of her fingers for each excuse.

Ruby continued again but in a more subdued tone, poking her fingers together as she spoke, "I didn't exactly get in for being bright."

"Ruby" Naruto started again.

"I'm not angry or disappointed in you or anything. It's just you may think differently of me when you learn of some things." He sighed. He decided it was best to divert the conversation back on track and avoid any further depressing thoughts.

"Well, other than the Wakizashi I do have a variety of other weapons," he said as he pulled out a kunai from his leg strap, a few shuriken inside his coat, some explosive notes and smoke bombs. He held them out openly in his hands.

Ruby looked on curiously hoping for him to continue.

"I train myself using different weapons and none at all for combat. I see the weapon more as a tool, rather than as an extension of myself."

"Cool, so what do they do?"

"Well the knife is called a kunai and it can be used for a variety of ways, hand to hand combat, as a projectile or even setting traps. It is one of the more practical weapons for a Ninja and is a staple weapon on the field. I'd go into the details of what it can be used as and why it is shaped as such, but it would take too long."

Ruby continued to listen on intently. This was the first time she'd seen such weapons and although they looked old fashion she knew Naruto saw them as highly effective and was attending Beacon Academy so there was some merit to his words, as such she continued wrapt in attention anyway. Weapons were weapons, after all, she could even learn a few new things about them and apply something to Crescent Rose.

"The shuriken is used more specifically as a projectile weapon and can also be utilised a variety of ways, for instance, attaching a wire could allow it to be guided when thrown and help set trapping moves in combat." He carefully put the kunai and shuriken away when done and showed her more specifically the smoke bomb and explosive note.

"The round ball is a smoke bomb. It is simply used to obscure vision and lastly the explosive note." Ruby was most curious about this as she failed to understand why a piece of paper with scribble could be used as a weapon.

"This piece of paper creates an explosion when chakra, the energy of the Elemental Nations is applied. The best similarity you have would be the grenade."

"R- Really. This paper with scribbles can explode?" Ruby looked at him again with puppy dog eyes full of excitement.

"Can you show me?"

"Maybe some other time, we got to get to the auditorium for the welcoming ceremony, besides one accidental explosion should be enough for one day," Naruto smirked while Ruby chuckled half-heartedly.

As they walked to the Auditorium, Ruby was happy to share information about Vale to Naruto. It seemed like two friends were talking, rather than Naruto simply gathering information on his surroundings. It was a nice change of pace and Ruby was just as hyperactive as Konohamaru if not more. She talked about her childhood in Patch and visits to the city. She had been particularly hyperactive about recounting how she tried to stop a robbery, swinging her scythe here and there knocking out goons and battling against Torchwick leading to her getting enrolled into the academy two years ahead of schedule. She had tried to demonstrate her moves with her arms, but without the Crescent Rose out it just looked like hyper hand gestures all over the place. It was still a fun story to Naruto.

"So who taught you how to fight?"

Ruby smiled. "My uncle Qrow did."

"Qrow huh..." Naruto thought contemplatively, the world was just full of quirky coincidences

"Yeah, back at Signal he..."

"Ruby, sis!"

The call had cut Ruby in the middle of another one of her exaggerated escapades as they walked into the hall surrounded by potential students.

Ruby turned happily to see the welcoming sight of Yang pushing herself through the crowd, her well kept blond hair making it easy to pick her out from the rest.

Yang's eyes twitched in annoyance as she looked at Naruto's forehead protector, sure she liked what she saw but her expression changed as she made her way towards them, less enthusiasm in each step. She had thought Ruby had made a friend when she ran off to give her some space to do so, however when she saw the headband her expression soured with annoyance and anger clear on her face.

Naruto frowned when he saw her. Talking to Ruby and dealing with her hyperactive nature had him almost forget that most of the people here still didn't like him for his affiliation. He couldn't really blame them, he'd feel the same.

"And that's my cue to leave red. If you still want to talk to me and make friends, later on, just ask. Later." Naruto muttered beside her. With a wave and pat on the shoulder, he quickly disappeared into the crowd leaving Ruby behind to face his sister.

As Naruto left he immediately began to notice certain things about the auditorium. Firstly the students weren't sending him as much of fearful looks anymore, rather more of annoyance and loathing. Probably because the news was finally getting around that he was attending the academy as an official representative from the Elemental Nations. He was surprised that the announcement had come extremely late though now that he thought about it there were a lot of benefits sending the message out late. There would be notably fewer reporters as he made his way to the opening ceremony, which is, of course, is open to media knowing the importance of Hunters in society. Less time meant less planning and he doubted he would even get in with the media storm his arrival would have shaken up.

Another advantage is the determent of students and/ or teachers that would have attempted to transfer to the academy due to his sole attendance and position. Reasons could range from hatred and assassination to seduction and power gains. He did already have enough on his plate and having to openly worry about such things and dealing with such people would be extremely difficult considering he was in a different land. Last thing the Elemental Nations and Remnant needed was an international incident on top of the ceasefire and tense relations.

Those were, of course, the main reasons he could think of at the top of his head.

Truthfully he hoped it was just ambassadorial work, but apparently much of the political power and negotiation potential was focused on Beacon academy in Vale, hence attending school (apparently this is an actual thing in RWBY so far, man I'm good at integrating the stories XD).

Naruto found a pillar he could lean on as he waited for the introductory ceremony to begin. He noticed several students taking glances at him then looking away quickly, others outlandishly taking photos of him, most were females with a barely noticeable blush on their cheeks as they did so. He knew he looked slightly older and mature for his age along with the looks of his father, but he still couldn't help but beam and stroke his ego when women blushed his way.

Screw you old man, I'm not ugly and shrivelling away.

 ** _Elsewhere in Konoha_**

Hiruzen Sarutobi sneezed blowing away all the paperwork on his desk onto the floor while at the same time spilling his tea soaking most of the papers.

"Imp." immediately an ANBU member appeared kneeling with an Imp mask adorning his face, two notable small horns and big ears on the mask. One distinct feature about the ANBU was the long blue scarf around his neck.

"Yes Hokage-sama" Imp responded, fury evident in his tone.

"Why are the papers on the floor and soaked in my tea?" he spoke in seriousness.

"Because you sneezed blowing the papers and the cup onto the floor," imp responded in great mirth.

"Do you know why?"

Imp didn't respond.

"It's because the tea was too hot and mixed with the wrong amount of herb. Make me a new one and clean up this mess. The papers won't dry themselves you know."

Imps eye twitched "Screw you grandpa! You can treat Naruto as your slave, but you can't treat me the same."

"What was that Imp!?" The Kage responded with KI rolling off him in great intensity. Konohamaru, the newly identified imp began to sweat.

"I- I will fight for my liberties," Konohamaru spoke out in determination, though significantly less than before and mixed with greater uncertainty.

"Oho... It appears an ANBU member is rebelling and needs to be disciplined" Hiruzen spoke out in amusement before immediately appearing behind Konohamaru.

Konohamaru immediately swung his fist back in an attempt to disable his old man and make his escape, no matter how futile such an attempt was.

As expected Hiruzen captured the fist with ease and immediately reached down for Imp's ear pulling hard on it.

"ita ita ita."

"You are coming with me" Hiruzen spoke with authority and amusement as he dragged his grandson to the training grounds by the ear.

"H- Help me Naruto-niiiii," Konohamaru shouted out in desperation for a miracle.

As both Sarutobi's left, the ANBU guards followed unable to hold in their snickering. Ah, new blood.

 _ **Back in Beacon Academy**_

Naruto sneezed slightly. Someone was clearly talking about him, though considering where he was it was probably the whole of Vale.

It didn't even take a full minute from his resting place by the pillar until he saw someone familiar on the news, a female journalist, light lavender hair, yellow eyes and the same clothes from the broadcast. Her clothes, however, were all over the place and it was clear that she was tired with her attempting to catch her breath and sweat rolling off her face and down her neck, microphone still in hand.

She seemed really dedicated to her work. He respected that and as such he just didn't have it in him to turn her away.

He approached her and held out a cold wet towel and prepared a dry one. Where he got it from, why obviously storage seals of course. He came packed with everything, his entire room in Konoha was emptied and most of his saved money spent on supplies, all stored either on his body for those of more likely immediate need, a wet and dry face towel was simply one of them and the rest in a large storage scroll he was currently carrying on his back.

Screw bags.

She eyed the towels warily before accepting the wet one to wipe her face and hair before taking the dry one and drying herself. Naruto was surprised, though, she had to be the only reporter he had seen that didn't wear makeup. That was a good thing or she wouldn't be looking as presentable as she was.

Lisa took a deep breath, "Thanks."

"No problem."

Lisa continued to clean herself up and make herself presentable combing her hair back to the pristine straight she was known for as well as straightening her clothing and buttoning the buttons back up.

She looked at her watch before sighing in relief. She had 15 minutes till the opening ceremony for Beacon academy and henceforth the deadline for the brief interview.

Naruto was use to this. He was, after all, the Kage's personal aide and secretary no matter how much it sucked and he had built himself quite a reputation with his exploits garnering the attention of media.

He watched as the camera crew rushed into the hall quickly spotting Lisa who was now more composed as a reporter while they were sweating all over seeping into their clothes, armpit and neck area in particular. They were quite a sight for the new prospecting students as everyone turned to look at them. He sweat dropped, these people were really dedicated to their work and damn did his presence make them move.

He brought his attention back to Lisa who was trying to talk but was sort of uncomfortable in what to say. He understood why, there was still lingering fear and resentment and things had not settled yet. It was his mission to see to the facilitation of a peace process after all.

Naruto stood up in attention. He was still representing the Elemental Nations, and no matter how traitorous the Kage were to him to put him in such a position, after all, the good he had done, he would still perform his task diligently as instructed.

"Lisa Lavender."

Lisa stumbled back a bit in surprise. Naruto would giggle after all he did sound full of authority and scaring her was funny, however, this was serious business. He really couldn't mess around with media. His words and actions would reflect more on the Elemental Nations than on him.

"Don't be too surprised. I saw you on the holographic projector on your way here reporting about the Faunus civil protest and you receiving breaking news of me arriving here today. It wasn't even an hour ago."

Lisa calmed down before speaking up.

"So you know why I'm here?"

"Of course. You rushed on your way here for a quick interview before media would be cut of Beacon for a while until the orientation exams were completed of course and students settled in. For that, you have garnered my respect."

Lisa smiled at that. She was already in the good graces of the ambassador. It would make interviews in the future a lot easier and if possible, full of more substantiated answers.

Naruto briefly looked on at the camera crew setting up as quickly as they could. He took immense interest in the camera itself, which was hovering over the ground and coloured in pristine white. The ones he saw in the elemental nations still had stools, wheels and wires needed for function and mobility, though that would probably change with the technological boom from the 'acquired' technology.

"Just that you are aware Lisa, I cannot pertain to information regarding the status of the elemental nations, relations and direct problems between our civilisations as of yet. I believe that that would be best undertaken in an official interview in the future. Perhaps after orientation and class finalisations."

Lisa nodded. She was pressed for time and would take what she could get. Introductions are a good start anyway and there wasn't time to cover any of the big issues like why the war started in the first place or actions undertaken in the war. She was just glad the war ended in a more substantiated manner where a peace process could be reached, regardless of bad blood.

"So for now, I suggest the questions you will ask focus on me as an individual." Naruto continued to speak showing clear signs of extensive experience.

"Okay."

He watched as the female journalist and camera crew composed themselves one last time before checking the time on their watches. He had already figured that this was going to be a live broadcast, but he had faced worse and come out on top in media. He wasn't nervous whatsoever. He would simply introduce himself and relay another time for interviews for more distinct information regarding the situation between Vale and the Elemental Nations. It would also allow him time to get acclimated with their view on certain issues and debates regarding the war. It was a win-win though he was on the defensive and needed far more research than them. Thank Kami for shadow clones.

He watched as the a member of the camera crew gave directions and looked around briefly noticing that everyone in the room was looking at them, or rather more noticeably at him.

His eye twitched, great, just great.

"Okay, we go live in 5, 4, 3..." the key camera handler began before using fingers as an indicator for 2, then 1, mark.

"This is Lisa Lavender reporting live at Beacon Academy entrance ceremony. We have managed to secure a live interview with the ambassador for the elemental nations, which at the present time is willing to share information about himself and provide a general background."

Lisa then looked to Naruto "Can we start with your name and title sir?'" she said before pushing the mic as close to him as possible.

Naruto put on the best face he could for the cameras. "my name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze though I prefer to be referred as just Naruto Uzumaki. At present, I am the unanimously agreed upon ambassador for the Elemental Nations and Shinobi Alliance under the authority and jurisdiction of the leading Kage's and Daimyo's."

"Okay, and what do you hope to accomplish with your new found position as core representative between our peoples?"

"Well Lisa, as you and most of Remnant are aware war had erupted between our people with arguments going both ways."

There was a small but noticeable 'eep' in the background. Guess Ruby really was one to skip a war.

"This, of course, had been stopped by the recently established ceasefire and as brief, as the war had been, far too much blood had been spilled needlessly on both sides. Much of the problem can be attributed to the misunderstandings between our cultures and miscommunication between our people further exacerbated by our language barriers. I wish to facilitate the development of a peace agreement between our people to allow the healing of past wounds and ensure prosperity between our civilisations. Much can be learned and gained through one another. trade and manpower to name a few."

"How do you suppose being a student at Beacon Academy while being a representative would help this. Would it not be more adequate to remain in one position or the other?"

Naruto almost visibly twitched at the question. Of course, he should be in one position or the other. He shouldn't have so much on his plate. Kami damn lazy Kage's and Daimyo's for not sending another person over. It's not like he did anything wrong... Anything wrong that was long lasting. Well okay, maybe there were a few reasons, but he still shouldn't be juggling so much.

"You are right Lisa. It would be more adequate for a normal person to fill one position or another, however, I believe, and the leaders of the Elemental Nations believe that the future lies with the children of tomorrow. As far as I see it Ninja, Samurai, Hunters, Huntresses and even the regular soldiers are not so different. We both fight with a purpose, some to help and protect friends, family, loved ones. Others to fight for their country, survival; their very existence. I envision a future where all of us don't have to cower behind petty emotions of fear and hate, but rather a future where we can all work together for the common good. Humans, Faunus, Chakra users, Aura users, people of Remnant, people of the Elemental nation and more. They are but labels for people. People who make mistakes, who stumble and fall. But as long as we live we hold power through our words and our hands for great kindness and great hate."

Naruto took a slight breath to continue letting the words sink in. taking a quick subtle look around, he had seen that he had captivated the audience. This was good, maybe his stay in Beacon wouldn't be as bad and as hard as he initially made it out to be. Portray yourself as the good guy caught up in things after all.

"Having already qualified as a well versed Shinobi and undertaken a significant amount of missions," 'even if most of them were paperwork and chores' Naruto thought internally.

"I never really experienced school or made friends through such means, though as a Shinobi it is what I fought for, the basic Liberties most take advantage of. By attending Beacon Academy; Conversing and learning more about you while you learn more about me, I can help facilitate the peace process. Bad Blood between our people won't disappear overnight. It may never disappear at all, but the leaders of tomorrow will continue to rise. All that really needs to be done is for small steps to be taken at a time." Naruto spoke sagely completing the question.

Inside however was another story. There was a chibi Naruto doing a victory dance. 'Hokage, here I come...'

What he said was just based on the basic observation of the Shinobi system and what he picked up from being around. He was truly flunking the speech, but now that he thought over it, it would have a profound political impact. Positive for his position of course and better yet it was broadcasted live from Beacon. You can't stage something like this.

There was complete silence in the hall. He looked around subtly seeing the thoughtful faces of everyone, of course until the next question was asked by Lisa still slightly stunned over the answer.

"W- What makes you think you're qualified to take on such roles..."

"That's enough Lisa." A voice broke booming over the auditorium speakers.

Everyone turned their heads away from Naruto and focused on the stage. A middle-aged man with tousled grey hair, thin brown eyes adorned with shaded glass spectacles made an appearance in front of the microphone. He was wearing an unzipped black suit with button vest, black trousers and shoes. The most notable feature was his dark green scarf adorned with a small purple, cross-shaped emblem in the middle. Naruto knew who this was. Professor Ozpin, also someone who for some reason holds a lot of political clout.

Lisa quickly responded looking at the camera. "This is Lisa signing off."

Taking that as the signal to cut the feed and leave, Lisa quickly handed Naruto her contact card. "Don't forget the interview."

Once she gave the card she, along with the camera crew began to exit the auditorium. Inside however Lisa was jumping for joy. The Ambassador Naruto really did answer the questions effectively and undoubtedly her rating would rise dramatically along with a sizable bonus from VNN for her performance.

As things settled down in the Auditorium everyone began focusing back onto Ozpin, remembering why they were here, though some were showing doubts for their reason for being hunters and huntresses after the speech.

Ozpin began as he looked at Naruto then at everyone else there. "I doubt I can ever top the words just spoken so I won't and will keep it brief."

'That was rather blunt,' Naruto thought internally. He went back to the pillar he was planning to lean on before the interview and crossed his arms as he waited. It still came of no surprise when several people were sending glances his way, with conflicting emotions. One, in particular, was the busty blond sister of Ruby.

Yang.

"You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft, develop new skills and when you finish, plan to dedicate your life to the protection of people. But I look amongst you, all I see is wasted energy in need of a purpose. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time in this school will only prove that knowledge can only carry so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Naruto thought about what Ozpin was saying. For the inexperienced it meant far little and is generally what most people would say to them regardless. For Naruto however who held so much more of a deeper meaning, he had personally discovered in his travels and in his different ANBU missions.

As headmaster Ozpin made his way off the stage, Glynda Goodwitch approached the microphone "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins, be ready. You're dismissed."

As soon as the words were said Naruto disappeared in a Shunshin. This action obviously didn't go unnoticed by several onlookers, particularly of that of Glynda, Weiss, Rose and Yang.

Naruto was taking a stroll around the school. Things were getting quiet as the sun had started to set. He had already spent time exploring the outer areas of the academy visiting the pristine rivers running down the sides of the school, the steep mountains and, of course, the forests. The bright side of all of it was that he can continue his sage training. He was of course still struggling, but four years was a long time to master it. He wasn't expecting any extensive combat that would require such power in this part of the world after all. One important thing he discovered, however, was that the forests past the mountain or below cliff sides were full of Grimm. Sure not as much as he was use to, so he assumed that these were used as either training grounds while huntsmen and huntresses did what they could to clear as many of them out, to keep the population low.

He, the Kage and most of the Shinobi Alliance, particularly that of the medical, information and research divisions were perplexed on what they these Grimm were. They couldn't sense them through chakra means and were only identifiable through observation and external senses. This, of course, was one of the reasons why he was here, to discover more about the origins of Grimm in a place where they came from, where they started. Naruto was no fool, Grimm didn't have boats and the amount of Grimm that began appearing signified a population boom on their land. At first, they were quiet observable creatures in forest albeit aggressive to humans until they began attacks in large hordes. Even with months of fighting much about them still remains unknown.

Why do they attack humans and not animals on sight?

Why when they die they evaporate?

What are their origins?

How do they reproduce?

These were just some of the questions that needed answers and he hoped he could answer them while he was here

It was getting late and it was about time he made a report before heading back to sleep.

 _ **On a high tower overlooking Vale.**_

Naruto sat perched on the edge of a Beacon Academy tower overlooking Vale. It was huge, definitely, the largest city he had ever seen and the lights flickering just made the view all the more impressive. He had finished writing up a preliminary report regarding his arrival, his encounter with the media, what was said and the attendance of Weiss Schnee heiress of the leading Dust company. It was all official so there was no need to include his personal experience about school.

Naruto looked out, hearing the footsteps of someone approaching though he already knew who it was going to be.

"You shouldn't try sneaking up on a ninja."

"I wasn't, just here to talk. Mind if I take a seat?"

"Sure. I'm an Ambassador. It's my job to converse with you. "

"Well it's nothing official, I can assure you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that before looking back out at Vale, the nightlife starting to show. He was expecting something along the lines of politics or interrogation, but he wouldn't mind making do with casual conversation.

"It's quite the view isn't it?" Ozpin commented as they sat beside each other. There was no tension between them, it was if were two friends were just conversing and sharing the moment.

"I fid the view from Beacon to be very inspiring. It reminds me what we Huntsman stand for, what we protect." He spoke before sipping on coffee casually and watching the sun set.

Naruto hummed in agreement. "I know the feeling. I do the same back home when I'm deep in thought. Helps clear the mind."

"I understand that you have travelled quite some way to get here Mr. Uzumaki. How was the journey?"

"It was bearable. Could have gone have gone worse with all the company, but the view made up for all of that."

Ozpin took another sip from his cup.

"Fear of the unknown is a natural human trait, especially in a society beset on all sides by danger. Ours in particular. It will lessen in time as visitors between our lands become more common and your face becomes a regular sight to your classmates though you already know that."

"I wouldn't be the man for the job if I fell apart because people don't like me."

"I suppose you wouldn't be. Though I won't lie, I was worried who your alliance would send over. They really picked well."

Naruto contemplate. "I'm still young and I don't expect to do everything perfectly, but I will try."

"That's good to hear"

There was a contemplative silence for a few seconds, allowing words from both sides to sink in. Ozpin really sounded like the old man, when he wasn't going through one of his spats of insanity of course.

"You will find yourself with a challenge shared by some of the more unique students. You have been told of the Faunus yes?"

"To a degree."

"It's an unfortunate truth that many humans, even some of those in the academy look unfavourable upon them. Considering them lesser beings because of what they are ignoring who they are, their actions, their character." Ozpin's lips pursed in disapproval as he spoke.

Naruto contemplated the similarity between them and his early days of childhood. Those were of far distant memory. What really struck at him was similarities drawn to the Land of water and the rebellions, the discrimination against bloodlines, this was of course to a lesser extent.

"Like many faunus students, you will face the challenge of forging the bonds that are so important despite misconceptions others will have about you." Ozpin took another sip.

"Though if what you said today is true. I don't doubt my worries were misplaced. I look forward to seeing how you will handle the challenges ahead of you, Mr Uzumaki."

That had been quite the introduction. Nothing like what he had been expecting. Though he had greater respect and wariness of the man, more beyond what dossier provided had provoked.

He looked one last time out into the nightlife of Vale contemplating over and over again about his position. If his suspicions over the initiation tomorrow were right, he'd best get some rest. One way or another he needed to be at top performance.

Ruby cutely huffed in anger as she hugged her corgi pillow while scribbling into her journal. She ignored the blond that lay beside her poking her in the ribs.

"Aww, c'mon sis, lighten up a bit." Yang pestered, slowly moving her fingers towards the ticklish spots on Ruby's side before yelping and being thrown shot back as she received a pillow to the face. The shorter girl sat up and huffed again, crossing her arms and glaring at her sister.

"I'm still not happy with you!" She declared, pointing dramatically at Yang's face. "You ditched me earlier, so I had to explode and deal with that Weiss girl by myself and then when I finally make a friend you go and scare him away"!

"Meh," Yang shrugged, flipping the pillow that had downed her so that it was beneath her head.

"You should watch the news more Rubes. Those ninja guys are bad juju. It doesn't matter what he says, he probably killed a few Vale explorers himself." Ruby huffed in response unsure what to think; Yang had an over-protective streak a mile wide when it came to Ruby and the older girl had been quite shaken up by some of the darker news coming out of the Elemental Nations.

"I'm a huntress now Yang, same as you and I can protect myself. I didn't come to Beacon because I thought it would be safe and I don't need you to protect me all the time anymore!"

"Whatever you say, sis," Yang replied dismissively. Ruby rolled her eyes and returned to her journal as she scrawled all her thoughts and experiences so far about Beacon onto the paper. She still didn't know much about the conflict on both sides and simply relying on Yang to tell her wasn't good, some of it really sounded bad. Naruto seemed like a decent guy and all, maybe he had his own thoughts and reasons.

She still couldn't believe she lazed her way through a war. She will definitely start expanding her horizons.

Ruby was just getting settled back into writing her letter for her friends in Signal when she heard Yang let out a low whistle to which Ruby couldn't help but roll her eyes. A bunch of the male students apparently preferred to sleep topless and Yang had been very vocal about her appreciation of that fact.

She suddenly paid a bit more attention when Yang actually spoke. "Mmmm, we can add making ninja-boy wear that baggy coat to the list of his people's crimes." Her older sister purred, the tone making Ruby shudder before she actually processed the words.

Ruby took the bait and followed Yang's eyes to see what she was talking about, promptly blushing bright red. Naruto had returned from wherever he had disappeared to with sleeping bag in hand and like many of the other males was topless, wearing only a pair of small tight boxers as he set his sleeping-bag out.

Despite standing shorter and leaner than the average Beacon male, it was quite obvious that the ninja was in good fighting shape. He moved with an unconscious grace and his smaller frame held clearly defined muscles and was littered with scars. Women liked scars and this action, of course, got him more than a few jealous looks from the other males as they felt uncomfortable comparing their manliness.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the looks being sent while picking up more details about him. She admitted she hadn't seen someone quite driven like he was and by looking she could pick out the assortment of scars, some large, others small that covered his naked body. She could also make out oddly shaped swirling tattoos spreading across his upper arms and shoulders as well as one in the middle of his belly. One tattoo she liked, in particular, was the one on his left shoulder, it looked like two waves meeting (ANBU tattoo)

Ruby quickly turned away when she noticed what she was doing, but not before Yang noticed her. "Shut up," Ruby muttered pre-emptively.

Yang's eyes sparkled and she opened her mouth, only for Ruby's corgi pillow to nail her straight in it. The blonde fell back spluttering and Ruby gave her a glance. "I thought you didn't like him anyway?"

Ruby hadn't taken to well to her being told that the boy who she counted as her first friend at Beacon was supposedly a member of a pack of dangerous murderers, nor was she completely convinced otherwise. Naruto had seemed nice earlier; a bit weird and quiet at first but hey, she had exploded herself so she couldn't talk about weird.

"I don't," Yang replied, adding the corgi pillow to her collection and leaning back leisurely. "But long as he stays over there and away from you, I can enjoy the view from a distance."

Naruto settled down his sleeping bag. He had put away more of his less needed items into the locker such as his cups of Ramen, other unnecessary food items as well his main storage scroll to clear some space. He noticed Ruby and Yang on his way to the sleeping area with a sleeping bag in hand. He paid them no mind. Either he or they will approach him later. He, of course, did notice the jealous looks he was getting, nothing too serious, though.

Quietly and quickly he set his sleeping bag down in a more isolated area of the room. He was still in unfamiliar territory and he couldn't just converse openly. He was a ninja, his guard had to be kept up all the time, especially during sleep where people are at their most vulnerable. Because of this, like all ninja, he was a light sleeper.

Not much longer the lights began to dim before going out. A bunch of grumpy looking older students started patrolling, dispersing any commotion to hush out any noise. Muttering something indistinct about Yang's hypocrisy Ruby pulled her face mask down and wormed her way into her sleeping bag. "Night Yang," She mumbled around a yawn, twitching as she felt Yang's hand ruffling her head one last time before the older girl too settled down to sleep.

"Good night."

 **Chapter end**

 **Please read and review. No pointless flaming, it disheartens writers from completing stories which is pointless since all you need to do is not read on a completely free site for stories.**

 **As I'm still wrapping my head around the story, I may do some edits in the future. The concept will remain the same. I have made a few small adjustments to the prologue and have mentioned it on the top Authors note, refer to that on any small changes or more specific info on the story.**

 **This was an exceptionally long chapter so I may have missed some things or said something off so I may edit this in the future, edits shouldn't be that significant.**

 **Read and Review**


	3. Chapter 3

**ANBU Naruto becomes a student of Beacon Chapter 3:**

 **Authors Note:**

 **Just that you're aware some of the chapter below has been edited or copied from between two worlds. This chapter isn't my finest work mainly because Ryshe had already done a good job relating to the team initiation exam and** I **really CBF rewriting it all. Most of the good part of the story will come after, in other words immediately in the next chapter and beyond.**

 **I decided to watch the Naruto anime again and play the video game and I'm getting a lot of mixed messages about their tech, even in forums discussing the topic. To be honest, they have a lot of modern tech excluding guns and planes, to a degree. There appear to be cannons of some types for siege weapons and even Jutsu with gun like properties so I'll elaborate about that in the story. So yeah RWBY have nothing on them but technology, still going to up their power level a bit like population and military levels.**

 **Now onto reviews**

 **Someone made vague mention about the moon being destroyed already. I sort of forgot about that to be honest.** **With all the fanfiction reading I've done I'm going to assume that the sage of six paths destroyed it for good measure against the Juubi in this alternative Naruto universe leading to life in Konoha's ANBU variant. The fourth shinobi war happens but is far different to the one in the Anime, i.e. Nagato plays a stronger role as the child of prophecy. Naruto is a child of prophecy also, but in a unique way. Will elaborate in the story if I write long enough. This idea could also change if a better one comes up.**

 **I know I made a comment about Ruby being evil, but that's because I decided to put a hint of realism and used it against her. On the train incident she 'appears' to have knocked the White Fang members out with her scythe, but she did it far too quickly and in few swings. Using the laws of physics and applying high definition quality, those members would be bisected in half because of her Scythe. Also, after indirectly killing the terrorists when they fall off the train she shows no remorse whatsoever when they are left to die by the Grimm, just happy go lucky girl that loves cookies and stuff. I'm pretty sure that is her first brush with death. She also saw the discrimination against Faunus pushing them to the life of terrorism and its pretty legit, though maybe I have been reading too many dark fiction stuff. Still a faunus at school was openly bullied and nobody did anything against Caiden. She has the inner workings of a psychopath lol. The truth is I think that makes her an even cooler character. Still she's going to be replicated in this story as a good girl.**

 **Anyways I read through Life in Konoha's ANBU again and realised there were some details missing and as such will add them. It is pretty difficult to get the full details I want when writing chapters, I'm sort of a perfectionist, so as I said I will actively edit.**

 **-Chapter 2**

 **Miniaturized chakra explosive note printing press thingy. The key to the attempted coup in Hi No Kuni and continued reign of Yagura was the explosive note printing press powered by chakra battery. It was given by Obito to influence outcomes. It is such a good idea and forgot to make mention of it so I'm editing and making mention soon in chapter 2. I mention it vaguely in this chapter.**

 **Also, if possible, could someone send over details about the ANBU teams Konoha is mentioned to have on active duty, particularly team Sigma, Naruto's team and Yugao's team? I'd prefer not to have to go fishing for details about team members and their primary abilities. Sort of cut this chapter short from an epic fight in my head and would make the release of my next chapter further away trying to find out the members and their details. All I really remember is there is a Yamanaka, some Hyuga and also a guy named Kage I think. Need their masks as well. You'll see where I sort of cut things short in this chapter.**

 **One other thing, please review any questions and ideas you have. Some ideas put forward were really good and I made some adjustments to better my story and idea around it. It would improve the quality of my work. I'll post thanks to all that do in the next Authors note and onwards. I'm also not sure if I should write up a cataclysmic battle between Remnant and the Elemental Nations. Please review your thoughts.**

 **One other thing, the war with Remnant and the Grimm that caused it and all. I have a really awesome idea around it, it's hard to guess now, but the idea may be alluded to in later chapters. I got the idea from another crossover RWBY fic with Naruto, but there wasn't much elaboration. Sure, hope I don't make it too obvious.**

 **Chapter 3: Teams**

Naruto looked over the vast plain of southern Hi No Kuni. Most civilians in the area had already been evacuated to safer areas and although some remained, they were well informed of what was to come and have prepared on their own accord. Shinobi outposts beyond the border in certain outlining countries, particularly that of Land of the moon and outlining islands of Land of water had been sent messages of the impending invasion. Fortunately, most of the population in the outlying areas had evacuated to safer ground, some underground, while others towards the mainland. The economy, of course, had been very badly disrupted, but fortunately, the main opposition forces had landed only small token forces while the main force continued directly towards the mainland. When given the orders from headquarters via telepathy or radio, they too will attack commencing the deadly ninja guerrilla campaigns against them.

Naruto briefly recalled a mission report involving Konohamaru improving and developing relations with the Land of Moon, especially since they had managed to thwart a revolution. It had been an additional wealth boom to Hi no Kuni in the south and now the rest of the Elemental Nations. It was a pity that their economy would take a hit because of the war, it was reviewed as a good tourist destination.

Naruto briefly looked back from the forward line of tree branches he was stationed. The second company had pushed forward to support the first line of fighters in a direct major offensive against the newly identified Remnant forces. They now had more close combat fighters rather than the primarily ranged fighters before. Additionally, Naval forces had begun moving around for flanking offensives, a large fleet consisting mostly of Land of Water and newly revolutionised Suna fleets were inbound.

There has been a booming industry in the naval warfare, particularly brought about by the Stone of Gelel incident with of course Konohamaru in the centre. He really has been getting himself into peculiar situations and missions since graduating from the academy. Naruto couldn't help but sweatdrop at that, he supposed he was the same.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru and Kitsune. Both were strategizing their point of attack. He was smart, but when it came to large-scale attacks, they were the best left to the real strategists, ANBU or not.

Seeing that the enemy had begun camping out and setting stationary defences provided a golden opportunity for assault. If enough soldiers were captured, particularly that of significant importance, there was a chance to negotiate a ceasefire in which the time can be used by the military to further prepare and reinforce themselves. As of now the military strength and potential of the Remnant forces remain unknown, but one thing was for sure was that they possessed exceptionally advanced forms of technology that were years ahead of their own. Flying combat fortresses, small warships, guns, armour and even better-developed communication skills. The research and development department was working overtime to backwards engineer their tech, create replacements and try mass producing their own. There were, of course, problems associated with some of their technology being a combination of many small module pieces and complexity, but of course knowing is half the battle. It could take decades before they could effectively reproduce technology on such a large scale. Worse yet there was a new resource/ energy propellant being used in some of the components of technology captured, unique weapons in particular that were not native to the Elemental Nations. It was proving quite the hassle.

"Naruto." Naruto listened in closely to his earpiece for new orders and deployment for him and his team.

"Reporting" he replied quickly.

"You have new mission parameters. A southern village of has been attacked and civilian taken hostage, nobility in particular." Naruto listened in closely taking in details and parameters of the mission.

"Sigma, Epsilon and Orion team are to engage the enemy, capture if possible, but the primary concern is the wellbeing of the hostages. You and Kakashi have been given operational control for the duration of this mission."

"Understood." Naruto didn't want to take the mission thinking he could be more use here on the front line, but he knew if he was being redeployed for hostage retrieval mission, especially now of all time, it could mean trouble. Most likely a perceived high-level threat from a few or more of the unique combat individuals faced in the past.

Naruto quickly jumped off the high branch jumping onto smaller ones to weaken the force of the fall from up high. He quickly disappeared to rendezvous with his team as well as that of Epsilon and Orion. He did want to catch up with them, Sasuke hopefully hasn't been slacking off since the war with Madara Uchiha or these days better known as the Fourth great war and hopefully the final Shinobi war. The death of Itachi and his goals really did shake him up.

Shikamaru watched as Naruto departed. He turned back around the soon to become battlefield before looking at his fellow field commanders.

There was so much to take into account for the plan to work. The main force will of course attack from the front. The front of the wave will consist of secondary forces as to keep casualties low and will primarily include puppets from Suna, elemental golems, clones and strong armoured summons, the likes that can avoid significant projectile damage. This will prevent direct casualties from being taken and lessening losses from a direct assault with enemy forces being preoccupied. The next wave will be followed by those consisting of heavy defences, particularly Samurai and Earth elemental ninja that can easily create cover in the vast plain for advances.

The second line of assault will consist of the bulk of the forces and using speed ninjutsu will speed past the first assault line at a closer distance to the enemy, while launching long range attacks for the siege such as ninjutsu, shuriken and kunai. It is a diversionary approach he was taking after all.

The final wave will consist of support units, medics and runners who will deal with the injured. They will make their move as soon as the battle-lines meet the enemy so as to distract them from engaging non-combatant units.

The back line will consist of siege units, primarily made up of siege weapons utilised more by samurai and the regular military forces of the Elemental Nations. Their key form of attack will be enemy aerial units and involves large shuriken launchers and kunai launchers. (some make an appearance in Inheritors of the will of fire)

Konoha's Aerial combat unit will also be making a move, their key strategy lies keeping the aerial forces occupied. These forces will be launching attacks on all sides, some from the new aerial combat ships developed by Hi No Kuni and from the flank. Here it would be vital for communications of attack between the siege units and the aerial combat units to minimise friendly fire.

These were, of course, the main advancing force.

When the attention is drawn to advancing forces a moment of opportunity for a surprise ambush can happen in which the signal for Iwa and the earth division Shinobi led by Garra will be given launching the ambush beneath their feet and insert shinobi directly into their line sowing chaos and confusion. Their goal is to keep as many of the airships docked as possible and insert themselves inside to continue an internal offensive to prompt sabotage. They, of course, have the most important mission as their success will determine the wellbeing of the main force and whether they will be stuck dealing with more airships than just the two.

Shikamaru and Shikaku had a lot to plan and very little time to plan it.

'how troublesome'

 **Present day.**

Naruto woke up with a start, beads of sweat pouring down his brow. He hated sleeping as of late, nightmares of what he had done as an ANBU black ops agent surfaced most times. Nightmares about the lives he had taken and the lives he had failed to save haunted him in his sleep, mocking him, taunting him. Things now were very different from the past not too long ago. He was a different person now and even when he knew that the decisions made were vital for the protection of Konoha, his new perspective on things culminated in the fourth Shinobi war, the Akatsuki war saw him view his actions in a new light, the atrocities that they were. He shook his head, there was too much to do today and for him to dwell on such things wasn't good, so being as disciplined as he was he got up.

Naruto briefly looked around. No one was awake and everyone was sleeping soundly. He could tell most had trouble sleeping knowing he was in the room, still they fell asleep soundly after dozens of minutes in darkness. They were the lucky ones, the ones truly ignorant of humanities capacity for great kindness and great hate.

Quietly Naruto pulled out his Remnant scroll given by Glynda the previous night on his way to the ballroom. He suspected it had been specially tampered with compared to a regular scroll to monitor his workings and location at all times. As a ninja, he didn't like the idea, but he had no other choice on its use until the information and research division create a suitable substitute. Still the scroll device was important as it is the main means of communication for the people of Remnant.

Naruto briefly looked at it again. It was a revolutionary product with two metal panels that could be extended or collapsed to display a touch sensitive interactive screen. He didn't need to be a genius to know that the Information and Research department was working overtime trying to backwards engineer the product. Of course there were key problems hindering the progress such as most of the modules and chips used being unknown in the Elemental nations, but he knew they could pull it off. It would just take a lot of time and hard work.

Naruto looked at the time on his scroll. 04:00. It was still early and the team placement exam doesn't commence till 09:00. Unlike the students around him, he didn't need much sleep due to a combination of good health, training and genetics. Something that is also becoming a bit of a political problem back at home, probably also, why the Kage saw fit to send him here and lessen the headache.

Screw them he'd choose who he'd marry.

He took a look around again before deciding it was a good time to train and get rid of the travel fatigue. It would lessen the rust on his skills caused by the weeklong travel to Vale and sure he had studied a lot to understand the language and sparred frequently with Weiss' sister, his combat skills still paid the price. It'll take a bit again to reach his prime since the war.

Naruto quietly got up, unzipped his sleeping bag, taking it and folding it away before moving across the room to the lockers to store it away.

10 minutes later Naruto teleported to an area outside of Beacon academy. It was an isolated area of forest in the vicinity of Beacon but lacked any Grimm activity as far as he could see.

Naruto had a lot of training that needed to be done. He was still struggling with his emotions and even though he was more open with himself, largely in thanks to Nagato and the perverted toad sage Jiraiya, may he rest in peace, he was still not ready for the Kyuubi to be completed. He had the key, but he knew he wasn't ready. The Kyubi even recommended he deal with his inner self first before doing something reckless and potentially inviting disaster. He needed it done as soon as possible, he could have saved more lives in the war had he possessed the capacity to control the chakra. For now, until he became a true sage and mastered the truth of himself he will refrain from overusing the Kyubi's chakra.

For now sage training under the fox will have to wait. He needed to get the fatigue out of his muscles and practice some light ninjutsu and chakra control. He also wanted to see how far his chakra chains had come along. it was quite the problem when he was a more 'close-minded' ANBU with the chains reflecting his inner self, rusty and corroded, but these days his chains were becoming more defined and less corrosive in nature. There was still mild difficulty in controlling them and he doubted he could use them to the extent his mother could, but it was still fun to try.

Naruto put his hands into a cross creating a dozen shadow clones. He, the original was going to focus on physical training while the rest got him back into combat shape. He needed light practice with his ninjutsu and chains, but also a bit of fuinjutsu training. He may know the secrets of his father's flying thunder god technique, but it was to an extent. He wasn't as proficient as he was. He still couldn't teleport over large distances or weaponise fuinjutsu using his hands so it was a goal he was trying to achieve.

07:30.

Naruto was feeling Hungry and it was about time he got back and properly prepare himself for the coming test. He was pretty confident he would pass, cause let's face it everyone compared to him was a greenhorn and to top it off he was the Hokage's secretary, he doubted anyone had as much practical book smarts as him. A depressing thought quickly crossed his mind before shaking it away.

As Naruto passed the auditorium he noticed that all the first year students were up. The ballroom was clear of sleeping students who were now running around preparing themselves for the coming team placements. Some of the females stopped to stare at him as he was still in his boxers, sweat rolling down his body showing a nice gleam. The females blushed quickly at the eye candy before running off, while the male students grew noticeably angry, seriously it was all over their face. Ignoring them he continued to the bathroom for a quick shower.

The rest of the early preparation passed quietly for him, nothing of importance. He took the opportunity to check his body seals and everything was working fine. he had put his clothes on and quickly went to breakfast. Breakfast was different in that it was very hyperactive with everyone excited for team placements while others were notably worried. The rarer cases had some completely calm as if they had nothing to worry about.

People took this opportunity to get to know their fellow classmates and converse, he, on the other hand, had a quiet breakfast with pancakes. No one was willing to converse with him yet and that wasn't really a problem, he did, after all, have a whole table to himself. Naruto still took quick glances around out of curiosity of his potential teammates for the next 4 years. He was still subjected to team placements after all.

Naruto took special notice of the girls Yang, Weiss and Ruby. He caught Ruby taking glances at him a few times, but not out of hostility which was a good thing so far. He took notice of two additional individuals, a girl with pink hair who was extremely hyperactive like Konohamaru when he had too much sugar and also a quiet, subdued person with black hair and green overalls that sort of gave off an Aburane feel. One other person he took an interest in was a quiet and shy red-haired girl. She looked naturally isolated, but of course, not to the extent he presently was. Still she really looked beautiful in his eyes.

After quickly finishing off his pancakes not even bothering to check poisons due to how weird it would look and the attention it would bring as well as due to his status as a jinchuriki, he calmly walked to his lockers. He may be well versed and well experienced, but he still didn't know what kind of exam he was dealing with so he saw it fit that he bring ration supplies of noodles, after all, the Chunin exams sometimes had tests that took days and he didn't know if there was a survival test needed. Plus he sort of quickly burned through the rationing part of his ramen stash for the day. He really wanted to find some place that served ramen, but he needed money and the exchange rate system hasn't been set up properly yet. As such he was heavily reliant on Ozpin and the academy to fund his stay and living allowances, additions to his ramen supply would have to wait.

As Naruto prepared himself in the lockers he overheard some of the people conversing. He saw Yang and Ruby talking blatantly about him, near him. Yang was clearly against her making friends with him and Ruby arguing back, good-naturedly of course. Still it was annoying that they hand no idea what being subtle was as he could hear them quite clearly as well as everyone in the locker room. On the bright side, he did get to finally know the name of the pretty girl, Pyrrah, thanks to Weiss' introduction.

He listened in, subtly of course.

"So Pyrrah, have you given any thought in whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual, such as yourself" Weiss spoke, a sense of prestige about her

Pyrrah hummed "I'm not quite sure, I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we can be on the team together." Weiss continued

"Well that sounds grand"

"Great."

Naruto noticed Weiss give a shrewd look. Great, one of those girls,

"Well, I'll see you in team placements." Weiss finished before walking off, her rapier by her side full of Dust.

Naruto took one last look before he too walked off. Pyrrah really looked good decked out in her combat armour and he didn't want any emotion signifying that showing on his face. She looked like a warrior goddess and Naruto briefly thought of wearing the new ANBU chakra combat armour to match her but went against it. He highly doubted his new armour would improve the overall perception of him in the academy. From what he could tell there were recordings of other ANBU black ops agents completely decked out slaughtering their forces after all. Him putting it on would scare them, the students looked brittle after all, so it was the bright orange coat, casual clothes and sandals in the end.

As Naruto walked out, he didn't notice Pyrrah take a long glance at him before following behind.

 _Team exam_

A selection of 20 people, notably less than the total number of incoming first years indicates that they are likely put through another team placement exam elsewhere. He was lucky to be in a batch where there were, at least, a few people he understood. He did always hate going in blind.

He glanced around the cliff top overlooking a large forest below taking in the people as well as the slab of concrete they were placed on. He could easily tell there was a launching mechanism beneath everyone to propel them into the forest. He took note of the idea as he thought the greenhorns at home could use such a thing, being launched into the forest of death seemed fun to watch. He briefly imagined Konohamaru screaming along with his team being launched into the exam area, it brought a smile to his face.

Naruto looked forward paying attention to Glynda and Ozpin. The former holding his ever-present coffee cup and the latter holding a scroll the Beacon staff used. It appears both are responsible for overlooking their placements and performance and, to be honest, he wasn't all that surprised Ozpin came down personally to oversee his performance.

Naruto briefly hesitated before looking to his left, Ruby immediately by his side followed by the rest of the classmates that have captured his attention, one way or another. 'or perhaps to also observe the next generation of recruits with the greatest potential' Naruto thought analysing his classmates carefully before looking forward again.

"For years you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald forest" Ozpin started before taking a sip of his cup.

Glynda spoke holding her scroll in her arm and looking at each of the classmates carefully. "Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams, well allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Naruto internally groaned.

Ruby squirmed in worry.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone who you can work well," Ozpin spoke again seriously.

Ruby squirmed again.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years."

"What!" Ruby shouted out in desperation.

"After you have partnered up, make your way to the Northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee before continuing.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics, each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

No one spoke up.

"Good, now take your positions."

One by one the participants were launched into the forest, the silver panels beneath their feet springing violently forwards propelling them into the air. Naruto watched down the line as his turn slowly approached, his posture still remaining in a casual stance with hands in his pockets. He watched as most of the students took being flung off a cliff towards the monster-filled forest lightly, Yang slipping on a pair of sunglasses and disappearing into the air with a loud whoop followed by small explosions from her fist weapons. When it was Ruby's turn, he observed her having recovered enough to give him a grin and a quick wave before she too disappeared.

Naruto acutely watched on as the students landed on their own accord, most using trees to lessen the impact while others just landing straight down creating a small crater.

"Birdy no!" Naruto heard briefly before he too was sprung into the air, Ozpin and Glynda watching him closely on what he'd do.

Naruto watched on as the forest became ever closer from the air, his hands still in his pockets. A few moments later Naruto began to seep his chakra out into the air around him, using his wind element to create small wind currents to guide his path. He aimed himself for one of the largest trees he could see, sprouting a sturdy looking branch that wouldn't have been out of place in the titanic forests around Konoha. He span in the air as he approached and focused more chakra to slow his speed as well as saturate his leg bones and muscles to prepare for immediate tree hopping.

There was a small thud as Naruto hit the branch and, after a split second he sped off in average ninja speed, jumping from branch to branch at his own pace. There was no need to rush things, there was plenty of time to complete his mission and find his partner, that and he supposed he should be discrete when showing his power off.

Aside from the sounds of gunfire and explosions in the distance from the other students, the actual forest was deathly silent, it really didn't reflect much on all the Grimm who called the place home. Naruto took a moment to calm himself, scanning his surroundings for anything of importance. Stopping abruptly on a branch he noticed the signs of something moving through the forest and the unnaturally large footprints it left behind. A Grimm perhaps, or maybe another large animal native to Remnant.

A splash of trepidation entered Naruto's mind, but it was tempered by his growing excitement. He quietly dropped down the branch stalked along the tracks. Over the past few weeks, the blond-haired ninja had been itching to exact some vengeance against some Grimm who caused the death of thousands of innocents around the Elemental Nations and, more importantly, being responsible for putting him in this mess. It seemed he would have plenty of chance for that today.

Naruto peered above some shrubs, he observed a small pack of nine or so Beowolves lumbering along peacefully, sniffing at the forest around them as they slowly went about whatever business Grimm had when they weren't killing humans. Smiling Naruto ran up a tree to get a better view from the high ground and prepare an ambush.

Jumping around as quietly as possible and perching himself in a tree above the pack, Naruto surveyed his prey with eager eyes. He was itching to jump down with his Wakizashi in hand and dive down into a fight but managed to hold himself back as he observed the Beowolves approaching his branch. Looking over the Beowolves beneath him, he took note that they were smaller and fewer than what he was used to and it was sort of a letdown. Sighing in disappointment he watched the largest of the Beowolves, likely the leader of the pack look around in confusion before a large snarl appeared on its face, possibly having picked up his scent.

Deciding to take that as the signal to attack, Naruto quickly pulled out his Wakizashi and jumped down to pierce the Beowolf's head. The Beowolf turned to look up just in time to see the approaching strike and opened its mouth in surprise, however, it simply wasn't fast enough to deflect the attack resulting in the Wakizashi piercing its head resulting in an instant kill with Naruto shoving the corpse down to cushion his fall.

Taking out the leader was always a good start.

Naruto quickly removed the Wakizashi noting the fast degradation of the body as the remaining Beowolves quickly encircled him, rage evident on their faces. He didn't care and just dashed around to the closest target flipping up and over its strikes and stabbing it directly in the head. As this was happening Naruto pulled out four Kunai with his right hand in mid-flight and launched them at breakneck speeds towards four other Beowolves, killing them.

He had already eliminated six leaving three left and before he could land, two of the remaining Beowolves launched themselves at Naruto, arms up in a strike. Naruto parried the strikes mid-air and as he landed on his feet, he rushed at them, wind chakra coursing through his sword giving it a longer, bluish edge. Ducking under the last strike he did one quick diagonal slash bisecting both in half, ending them.

Naruto was mildly disappointed. without the overwhelming numbers or greater level of armour, the ones in this forest were easy to contend with. Naruto eyed the last Beowolf who snarled at him. He was about to rush forward to end it, but he glimpsed something from the corner of his eye refraining him from doing so.

Suddenly the Beowolf roared and charged directly at Naruto but before it could move one meter forward a deafening boom echoed through the clearing and Naruto watched in fascination as the Beowolf's head dissolved into a fine red mist. Naruto looked to the right, his eyes meeting the familiar rifle-wielding figure of a certain red-cloaked girl.

"Hey there, partner," Ruby grinned, lightly patting Crescent Rose's still smoking barrel.

 _Elsewhere in the forest_

Weiss Schnee was a very happy girl. Despite the varied collection of colourful stains marring her white combat skirt and the small rips all around, she remained happy because of one clear reason, the crimson and golden armoured Spartan following from behind. Yes, her plans were coming together perfectly; the smartest student in the school, being her of course and the strongest, being Pyrrha were partners. They were going to be unstoppable! All she needed to do now was prove that she was the right choice for the leader and things would be perfect! She'd like to see her father find something negative to comment on when she delivered that news.

Actually, scrap that. Knowing him he'd probably find something.

All that was left now between her and glory was the pesky little matter of actually getting through the initiation. This damned forest was as much of a nightmare to navigate in as it was to actually push through, but almost an hour of searching had at least produced a possible lead. The small cave with drawings adorning the wall. Was this what Ozpin meant?

 _Back with Ruby and Naruto_

Ruby's day was also going great, much better than what she had thought it would turn out. All that worry for nothing. The red-cloaked girl was mentally dancing in happiness while outwardly trying to remain calm and collected like her counterpart and new partner Naruto. She still had reservations about him having heard so much bad stuff about the Elemental Nations since arriving, but she wouldn't lie when she thought he was cool. Plus his speech in the auditorium was done with good intentions, he can't really be bad as the rumours.

Trying to act cool and reserved like her partner, Ruby walked up to the disintegrating Beowolf corpse and nudged it with her boot. Yes, yes, yes! This was how Ruby had wanted her first impressions to go! Saving someone at the last minute, check. Awesome entrance, check! Badass one-liner, CHECK! It would have been better it Naruto hadn't already met her and seen her explode herself, but she would take all the little victories she could get.

"So, uh-" Ruby began before stuttering to a halt. She'd been intending to keep up her badass demeanour as she spoke but, when faced with actual social interaction, she had no idea what to say and flushed red in embarrassment. Naruto just continued to look at her expectantly as he put away his Wakizashi and picked up his kunai.

"You know where we're going?" she finished weakly.

Naruto grinned slightly at her making her blush increase. Naruto put his left arm behind his head nonchalantly while his right hand pointed straight ahead, "That way is North." Ruby looked ahead trying to decipher how he knew before looking back at him confused.

"How can you tell?"

"I used the position of the sun and the shadows of the trees to determine which way is north."

Ruby looked back at him, even more, confused.

"Let me explain, see the sun sets in the west and rises in the east, every hour it moves about 15 degrees from the east to west and at high noon or 12' o clock in the afternoon the sun is directly North. You following?"

Ruby nodded

"Okay, just checking. Ninja subconsciously know the time, but checking the scroll it is a little after 9' o clock" he pointed to the sun and Ruby followed to gaze at the burning orb

"So all I did was move 45 degrees clockwise from the sun's position. So now I am approximately where the sun would be at 12 o' clock aka north, which is that way." He said pointing again.

"I'm pretty sure if we follow this path we'd come across the ruins eventually," Naruto spoke again before putting his hands back behind his head in a carefree manner and continuing his walk. (Truthfully I don't know much about this and just got it from Copy Ninja Jaune by Streggae)

Ruby looked on dumbstruck before her expression turned downcast. She was supposed to make a good impression on her new partner, to show him that she was a capable hunter in training, but instead Naruto had figured the way out. He was clearly the better person.

Ruby shook her head, there was still time to show off her skills and prove that she was a just as capable and not just some little child. She rushed off to catch up to her new partner.

A few minutes of walking

Sure enough, Naruto had a teasing grin on his face, almost reminding her of a male Yang for a moment. "You got scared by a clown and broke your own nose?"

"I was six! Clowns are scary when you're six." Ruby protested. She still found them pretty creepy but decided to keep that piece of information to herself. "I panicked and activated my semblance for the first time by accident. One moment this creepy-ass clown is coming at me and the next, zoom, straight into a lamp-post."

Naruto found it amusing, she really did remind him of Konohamaru and supposed times of peace always brought about the most innocent side of children. He briefly wondered if he wasn't recruited by the Hokage after failing the first graduation exam if he would have turn out like her, more innocent.

Nah, he really didn't want to think about it.

To Ruby, Naruto didn't look any less amused by her explanation and so before he could continue Ruby interrupted. "ANYWAY! Onwards, to the temple!" she exclaimed, pointing roughly north and moving swiftly before he could ask any more questions.

The duo made substantial progress through the forest with Naruto following Ruby's lead with, of course with a few nudges in the right direction, while Ruby had her attention split between pretending she knew where she was going and trying to figure it out on her own. Luckily inspiration had come to her soon and Naruto seemed content to just follow her once her steps took a more confident beat.

Despite Ozpin's dire warnings they didn't really encounter all that much resistance as they strolled casually through the forest. They had encountered one other group of young Beowolves, but Ruby made short work of most of them dashing ahead of Naruto with a burst of speed and tearing through them with the sweeping motions that made up her fighting style. Naruto was just content on watching and observing his new teammate from afar and hey, if she wanted to show off he would let her. He was not the teacher this time and she was a huntress in training, not a Shinobi. He'd practice discretion where he needed to.

Still there encounter had almost turned ugly when a small group split off and sneaked up behind her, the lead Beowolf coming within inches of sinking its teeth into her neck before Naruto of course intervened, launching a tri-pronged kunai quickly and within moments of striking the Beowolf, Naruto teleported with the kunai in hand and increased the speed and pressure lodging it well into the back of the head of the Grimm.

When Ruby had spun around she had found her saviour Naruto just in time piercing through the back of the Beowolf's head with his kunai. She didn't feel or see him move and he was on the other side of the training ground when he last saw him, he was fast, really fast.

"Thanks," Ruby spoke slightly winded from the recent Grimm engagement.

Before she could make herself useful again and finish off the remaining Grimm, she watched as Naruto suddenly tossed a kunai with a small piece of paper attached whizz past her. She recognised it immediately as an explosive note and turned around quickly again and just in time to watch it detonate with wide eyes, watching as it incinerated the remaining Grimm in a fiery explosion. Naruto just gave her a small smile, but Ruby inwardly scolded herself for not being more careful.

"Is- Is that the explosive tag you were talking about?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes, it was, after all, a new weapon, one she hadn't seen before and she was a fan of new unique weapons. She could hardly believe such as small piece of paper can create such a large explosion.

"Yeah, pretty cool isn't it. Most ninjas are equipped with these" Naruto spoke nonchalantly, though inside he was brimming with pride. There was some technology, fuinjutsu, in particular, they had that was superior to some of their technology. He didn't mind showing them off.

'especially with the admission of the explosive note printing press.' Naruto thought internally recalling the events of the attempted coup of the fire Daymio four years ago.

"But how does it work? Is it infused with Dust?" she asked full of curiosity while making vague wind like motions with her arms either due to her hyperactivity or her trying to demonstrate what she meant by Dust.

Naruto had a vague idea of what Dust was, what it could do after all the Information and Research departments from all nations worked overtime to supply information on the Remnant forces, how their weapons and technology worked and how to beat them. This along with careful coordination from the intel division resulted in the allied forces gaining a significant advantage based on information of Dust used in tandem with their weapon for Jutsu like techniques. This was crucial because when disarmed or the dust used up, they lost significant operational efficiency.

That and the time he spent on the airship with Winter Schnee really put into his head what Dust was all about. She didn't tell him directly of course, but their 'sparring matches' really saw how dust operated by observation as it coincides with the users Aura. He supposed Winter was still upset about his victory against her, then again he did keep her disabled in an extremely crude way. He supposed anyone would hold a grudge against him for what he did.

Naruto knelt down and withdrew his tri-pronged kunai from the rapidly decaying corpse of the grim, "By utilising chakra. All ninja can do stuff like that."

"What's chakra? Yang says it's witchcraft, which by the way is still pretty cool."

"I'll tell you later, maybe when we settle down in teams." Naruto spoke getting off the ground, a small smile on his face "And when we're not in the middle of a monster-filled forest maybe?" Ruby gave a sheepish nod.

"Still, you're an impressive fighter, a lot of potential," Naruto spoke. Sure he had seen better fighters, some even younger than her, him being a prime example, but he'd give her the small victory she was looking for. It would help develop their relationship as partners after all and as far as he could see she seemed to be the only one willing to approach him.

Ruby turned around, beaming at the acknowledgement, a Chibi her dancing in her head in victory over being praised. Still she wanted to show off that she was incredibly capable of being a hunter and a partner. She just wanted something big and scary to come lumbering out of the trees, just so she could kill it in a grandiose way.

A short while later both Naruto and Ruby continued Northward towards where they suspected the ruin would be. It had been several minutes of silence, Naruto, as usual, appreciated the quiet more now these days. To Ruby however the walk had been frustrating, there were no more monsters to prove herself against and Naruto had returned to being quiet and subdued just like when they first met. Ruby was worried that her new partner wasn't happy he'd ended up with her.

She glanced back at him. He'd barely been breathing hard after either of the fights, despite how fast he had been moving and the amount of movement he'd used. Additionally, he had yet to show off any Aura or Semblance abilities and as far as she was aware of, even Chakra abilities she'd heard of. Obviously, he was skilled, he wouldn't be here if he was otherwise. Maybe he thought she was too far below him? She needed something interesting to happen so that she could actually show him how truly awesome she was! Not these cannon-fodder Beowolves attacking them in such small groups as though they were random encounters in some video game. She needed a boss fight.

"We should head up the cliff side to look for the temple from above," Naruto spoke suddenly diverting her back to reality.

Ruby looked up noticing a steep cliff. She'd been far too caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice where she was going and what was ahead. Ruby shook her head to get her out of her stupor.

"Right," She spoke up in a serious matter to reflect her seriousness with their test.

"We can climb the cliffs and look for the temple from the top." Before Naruto could have a chance to respond Ruby shot up the cliff using her semblance and shots from Crescent Rose to zip from rock to rock in a cloud of rose petals.

Naruto sweat dropped, she seems so eager. Grinning Naruto decided to mess with Ruby a bit, using the Shunshin he disappeared in a flicker, no need for smoke to disguise his speed after all. That and he felt it necessary to keep his supplies effectively conserved.

Naruto looked out at the Emerald Forest from atop the cliff waiting for Ruby to make her way up. Somehow the forest looked so peaceful from atop the cliff, almost as though it wasn't filled with disappointingly weak monsters that lusted for their blood and students running around fighting them.

Ruby hummed casually as she was about to make another jump up and over the cliff side only to stumble in her step from the shock of seeing Naruto to the side looking over the entire forest. Because of the shock, she lost her footing and began to fall, but before she could drop further a pair of hands popped up over the edge and captured her arm. Ruby looked up to see Naruto. She was, even more, perplexed than before taking a quick glance to the right to see Naruto wasn't where she last saw him. He was fast, really fast.

Naruto neatly flipping her up to join him atop the cliff as Ruby fell on the butt looking at Naruto perplexed. "Wha, how did you?" Ruby stammered, wondering how he had beaten her up the cliff side, was it a semblance like hers, or even teleportation semblance. She had heard of cases where professional hunters could teleport to different locations with ease.

The only response she received, however, was an unhelpful grin. Ruby huffed and got up, dusting herself as she did so. Slowly Ruby approached the cliff side beside Naruto, observing him closely as if he was about to disappear. She started looking down at the forest below them, trying to pick out anything that looked like a man-made structure. "So is that the temple ruins over there?" Naruto spoke pointing to a part of the forest seeing stone pillars arranged in a pattern near a small opening in the forest.

Ruby looked at the direction Naruto was pointing and peered out. It took her a while, but eventually she caught sight of what Naruto had found. It was small, almost unnoticeable from the eye but it looked like some sort of small stone structure. It wasn't all that far from where they currently were.

"Ooh! Ooh! I see it!" she called out excitedly, scrambling closer to the edge. Ruby was so focused on the structure she had seen that she didn't notice the crumbling earth at the edge of the cliff until it was too late. The edge of the cliff collapsed under her feet and she began to fall forwards with a shriek, Crescent Rose flying free from her grasp.

Naruto cried out her name in surprise and rushed forward to grab her cloak, but was unable to. He was about to quickly rush down and grab Ruby as she watched him in rapt attention so as not to miss anything, but before she could see him move, the air was thrown out of her lungs by a painful but decidedly non-fatal blow on her back.

"Oooph." Ruby sounded off in surprise as she groaned in pain.

She looked to her side to see that she had landed in a small hollow sticking out from the edge of the cliff. Even luckier, the hollow was filled with greenery and odd black fluff that had softened her landing. Ruby pouted as she looked back up to the edge of the cliff, to Naruto. She wasn't happy at not seeing her teammate in action.

"Well, that's convenient." She sighed out as she stretched a kink out of her neck.

"Alright, I'll be right back up in a moment" She spoke dusting herself off. She heard no reply from Naruto.

The silence that greeted unnerved her, she was expecting some form of reply and after Naruto failed to reply Ruby turned to look up again to find him staring into the air, face set in seriousness.

"Naruto? What's wro-" Ruby froze with her mouth open as she followed his gaze up and into the air. "Oh," she finished quietly, realising exactly what was wrong as the massive shadow in the sky sped towards her.

Ruby thinking quickly jumped last minute onto the giant bird-like Grimm to avoid the impact of its talons. Naruto, on the other hand, stared on in shock his hand out as if attempting to perform an attack and would have had he not been disrupted by Ruby jumping on and riding the giant Nevermore. He watched on as the Nevermore flew off with Ruby towards the direction of the ruin.

After recovering from his shock, Naruto looked down and sighed. Ruby's weapon had fallen all the way down the cliff side, she was disarmed and on a flying Nevermore. He didn't have time to waste, he needed to get to Ruby. He didn't have time to deal with the other nevermore approaching him from behind. Sunshining down the cliff side he rushed down to grab her weapon and rushed off in the direction of Ruby and the Nevermore while a second Nevermore screeched following from behind.

 _Elsewhere at the ruins_

"Well, that was easy," Yang commented, idly balancing the chess piece she had picked up atop her index finger. The 'temple' was rather disappointing, just a couple standing-stones surrounding a set of pedestals that had contained chess pieces of varying types and colours.

"It wasn't exactly hard to find." Blake agreed. Both Yang and Blake were capable fighters and had torn straight through the sparse resistance they had encountered from the forest, Blake leading them north with an uncanny sense of direction.

Yang flicked the chess piece like a coin and caught it, tucking it away in a pouch on her belt. "What now? Think we should wait for some of the others?"

Blake wasn't paying attention to Yang, though, but gazing upwards with a bemused look on her face. Casually, as though doing something completely normal, the black-haired girl reached out and tugged at Yang's arms so that she was holding them out before her. For a few moments Yang was too confused to move her arms from where Blake had positioned them, and before she could question her about it a screaming black blur fell out of the sky and straight into her arms.

Yang stared open mouthed at her little sister, now sat in bridal position in her arms, while Ruby herself watched tiny Beowolves dancing above her head with spinning eyes. "My hero," the dazed girl muttered.

"Where the hel- heck did you come from Rubes?" Yang exclaimed, catching her curse at the last minute as she remembered that her younger sister was there now. Ruby didn't seem to have noticed and gave her a sheepish grin, having recovered a bit.

"Oh, you know, just thought I'd drop by."

Yang's face, which had been growing in happiness at seeing her sister alive and un-mauled, dropped instantly into an exaggerated frown. She glanced at Blake - who mirrored her frown and gave her theatrical thumbs down - and promptly dumped Ruby onto the ground backside first.

"Ow, why?! You do it!" Ruby protested, picking herself up and rubbing her behind.

"I'm older. And better at it than you." Yang replied smugly, ruffling Ruby's hair. The smaller girl flailed in protest - in vain, her head was at perfect rubbing height for Yang - before managing to free herself and casting a curious glance around.

"So where's Na-" Ruby began, before glancing. "Oh, there he is."

"Who is your partner anyway?" Yang spoke questioningly.

Her question was quickly answered as Naruto appeared from the treeline running towards them, Crescent Rose in its stationary form held on his shoulder. Naruto quickly identified the three girls by the ruin and seeing Ruby next to her sister, Naruto slowed down his pace.

"Ruby. Catch." He spoke as he threw her Crescent Rose over the vast distance before he quickly turned around to face the other Nevermore who had been following him from the cliff. Quickly he formed the cross hand sign creating 2 shadow clones by his side.

Oh. God. Dammit.

Out of all the strange, dangerous and male possibilities for teammates Ruby could have, she had run into the worst. She'd hit all three points and gone for ninja-boy. She'd been hoping that Ruby would partner up with someone strong, yes, but safe and normal. Not the guy who had probably stepped onto the airship across the sea fresh from murdering a bunch of Vale explorers.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and muttered an apology to Naruto, her downcast expression making Yang's eyes narrow even further.

Yang quickly recovered, shaking her head like a confused dog before she made her way to Naruto, a crazed look on her face, sinister eyes and the cracking of her knuckles. "You. My sister. Falling from the sky. How? Why?" she demanded. Naruto just looked at her neutrally as she stomped towards him. He wasn't worried, he'd faced far scarier women, Mei Terumi and Tsunade to name a few. Compared to them she was just an immature child with low killing intent, nothing to worry about.

"I imagine it has something to do with the giant Nevermore," Blake commented blandly, pointing towards the still circling shape of the great bird. Yang's head darted from Naruto to Blake and back so fast it was almost audible, fire flickering within the blonde curls cascading down her shoulders.

Naruto paid no attention to the one circling in the sky focusing on the one charging directly at him. Suddenly there was a loud screech from the tree line immediately drawing the attention of the girls, and before they could speak a giant Nevermore appeared from the foliage, Talons at the ready to pluck Naruto, though mild confusion graced its features seeing two more. However, before the Nevermore could react Naruto responded

'Fire style: Fire breath Jutsu' all three Naruto's thought internally weaving through the hand signs in a blur with finishing with right hand in front for the blowing motion needed.

As the flames reached the Nevermore, it screeched in agony causing all girls to hold their hands to their ears to drown out the painful screech. Still they watched on as the Nevermore flew up to escape the flames, soot covering its impact areas.

Naruto smirked.

Immediately Naruto, the original performed a quick set of hand signs and put his right hand on the ground, before shunshinning away for his trap, too quickly for the sight of the girls to watch. The other two Naruto's, on the other hand, put their right hand in front.

'Kongo Fusa.'

Immediately multiple chains erupted from their hands, dark orange and lightly corroded in nature immediately shot towards the talons of the giant Nevermore, and its core body wrapping around them.

The Nevermore screeched in displeasure, swinging its wings wildly trying to get further up into the sky. Its movements, however, remained restricted and the nevermore looked down to find out why. It saw the two Naruto's hands outstretched with chains linking to its talons, but also noticed in displeasure that their bottom half of their body was covered in rock anchoring them to the ground.

Suddenly there was a screeching sound growing louder and louder.

The Nevermore looked up, too late to dodge the incoming attack.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted out diving down towards the Nevermore as it looked on in surprise and shock.

Immediately the attack hit the giant Nevermore on its neck as it attempted to grind through, the Nevermore screeching on in pain. Before long the final stage of the Rasengan started with it erupting with great force, slightly pushing Naruto further up in the air.

Still the damage was significant, immediately as the Rasengan exploded, the force of the blast ripped through the neck ripping the head off and instantly killing the Grimm. Both Naruto and the lifeless body began to fall towards the ground, both clones dispelling.

The Grimm fell onto the ground, head and body separate from each other as both parts began to dissipate. Naruto followed shortly after with a small thump landing in the standard ninja kneeling position before getting back up and dusting himself, a passive expression on his face. Internally however he was thinking 'That's how you do a first impression', a chibi captain Kakashi with a thumbs up briefly entered his mind.

Blake, Yang and Ruby looking at Naruto, eyes open in surprise with a slight hint of fear.

Everyone was taken out of their thoughts when something exploded nearby. "W-What the hell is going on now?" Yang snapped starting out in a stutter before swinging moods from slight fear to angry as another problem seemed poised to make itself known.

Things had been going so well up until now. She'd found herself a badass teammate and been kicking some ass throughout the forest; good ingredients for a good day. Now her sister was turning up falling from the sky, she'd been partnered with literally the worst possible partner and as far as Yang was concerned even that bitchy girl who had yelled at Ruby yesterday would have been slightly better, this Naruto has proven himself extremely dangerous, only professional hunters could pull of what he did with ease and now more stuff was exploding.

She was angry.

The bushes at the edge of the clearing rustled, and a group of four students practically fell out of them. Yang felt slightly vindicated to see Weiss practically being dragged along by Pyrrha and Ren; each one pulling one of the exhausted girl's arms as they stumbled together up the hill. By comparison, Nora was practically skipping alongside them, firing random shots from her grenade launcher into the forest behind them as she went.

Weiss flopped down onto the grass as the groups were united with each other. "I'll… never skip… gym again." The heiress panted, clutching her heart.

"Slightly less crazy than I was expecting," Yang said begrudgingly, turning to Nora. "Why were you-" She was interrupted by a high-pitched screech as the Deathstalker burst through the treeline, snapping its pincers in the air and waving its stinger-clad tail threateningly.

Ruby's eyes lit up in excitement at the opportunity to show off her skills, what her partner had done, how awesome and easily he had taken down the Nevermore on his own and in such a short time disheartened her even more. He was on a whole other league, that much was clear and she wanted to show that she could live up to his expectations as a partner, to show she was just as much a capable hunter in training.

"I've got this." the redhead said, grinning confidently and before anyone knew it, Ruby rushed off using her semblance and propulsion from the shots of Crescent Rose to shoot towards the Grimm. Yang's heart missed a beat and she lunged for Ruby's cape, but her sister had already zipped away and Yang's fingers closed over nothing except petals. She cried out as the Deathstalker casually swatted Ruby out of the air and began to loom over the downed girl, pincers clacking menacingly. Ruby tried to retreat with another shot from her scythe but the Nevermore she rode on chose now to swoop back in, releasing a hail of razor sharp feathers that pinned Ruby in place by her cloak and almost impaled Yang as she rushed to help.

Despite running as fast as she could, Yang knew there was no chance of her reaching Ruby before the Deathstalker's stinger. That didn't stop her from trying, though, and through her tunnel vision, she barely noticed the black and yellow blur that shot past her until she heard a voice cry out.

"Kongō Fūsa!"

Ruby closed her eyes in expectation of death, but as more and more seconds ticked by Ruby opened one eye than the other and let out a gasp at what she seeing. Naruto was crouched over her, the Deathstalker's stinger was barely an inch away from him, straining against the glowing orange chains that now bound it in place. Ruby watched the chains closely noticing them move under their own will as they spread out and ensnared the Deathstalker before burying themselves in the ground nearby.

With a grunt, Naruto gestured downward with his hand and the chains tightened around the Deathstalker, forcing it to the ground. "Ruby," he began, grunting with the effort, "Could you please stop trying to show off."

Ruby ducked her head in shame. "I'm not trying to show off," she protested quietly, "I'm trying to show you that I can do this."

Naruto's eyes softened remembering how much she resembled Konohamaru and he reached out with his free hand, squeezing her shoulder. "You're fine," he said reassuringly, "Just remember, we're partners now. There's no need to rush off and do things on your own." Ruby gave him a small melancholic smile before speaking.

"What about the Nevermore you just took down," She spoke.

Naruto blushed bashfully as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He supposed he was a bit of hypocrite, he did sort of off a Nevermore on his own and it was in a way that seemed so easy and to top it all he did put in the effort to showing off. He knew he could get away with it because of his skill level and overall experience as the right hand of the Hokage, but they didn't know that and it would be troublesome explaining it all.

It'll come off as showing off.

 _Back in Konoha Shikamaru sneezed._

"I suppose you're right," Naruto spoke offering his hand to pull her onto her feet

"I'll refrain from doing such things on my own in the future, partner."

The two shared a moment smiling at each other before Ruby was abruptly ambushed. The redhead let out a pained squeak as Yang suddenly appeared from behind her, enveloping her in a crushing hug. "I'm so happy you're okay!" Yang gushed, holding Ruby cautiously as she choked and struggled. Naruto could still see a flash of distrust in Yang's eyes as they briefly met his over Ruby's shoulder and he turned away with a snort. The rest of the group came jogging over, many of them casting cautious looks at the beast that Naruto held restrained.

"What do we do now?" Blake asked, Gambol Shroud's pistol form trained on the Deathstalker. Even restrained, the titanic beast was an intimidating sight.

"There's no sense dilly-dallying here," Weiss piped up, having finally caught her breath.

"Our objective is right in front of us."

"Weiss is right," Ruby chimed up in support, "Our objective is to collect a relic and get back to the cliffs. We don't need to fight here."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, those who hadn't already done so grabbing chess pieces from the pedestals.

"Don't think it's that simple," Naruto spoke seriously before looking at one of the hidden cameras around the forest. 'Really like the forest of death' he thought internally. Just like the Chunin and Jonin exams, it was best to test them out, to gauge their strength and abilities and leadership potential.

Naruto immediately undid his chakra chains freeing the Deathstalker. It immediately took its new found freedom to charge at the assembled trainees,

"Run!"

(I'm skipping the next part. If you want to know about it read Between Two worlds and apply whatever events you want. It was boring as hell and thinking it up let alone writing this which has basically been perfected by Between Two Worlds story is very demoralising to my inspiration.)

 _Several hours later_

The auditorium filled with a polite applause as Team CRDL moved away from the stage; a mismatched collection of teachers, older students and reporters gathering to watch the ceremonial welcoming of this year's new Beacon trainees.

"Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos-" The applause briefly became thunderous as Ozpin's voice echoed through the speakers and Beacon's two celebrity students came forward. Weiss stepped up and played the crowd with a practised ease, flashing them a bright smile and a brief curtsy as she took to the stage. The reaction of the crimson-haired girl behind her was more taciturn, but Pyrrha was obviously used to the attention as well. "- Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie." Ozpin finished, the remaining pair taking to the stage.

Small portraits bearing their images began to arrange themselves on the screen behind Ozpin. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team SNVR," he began, pronouncing the team 'Silver', "Led by… Weiss Schnee." Weiss' smile was radiant and she gave Ozpin another curtsy before turning to lead her team off the stage. Ozpin's eyes slid to the last four students remaining.

"And finally; Ruby Rose, Naruto Uzumaki," Once again a wave of attention spread through the hall as the first pair were named and took to the stage. The clapping was muted though and almost overpowered by poorly hushed whispers and the popping of camera flashes. Naruto had the feeling that he would be fighting with Weiss for the top position in tomorrow's newspaper and kept his face as neutral as he could, fighting to not give them anything to use against him. "- Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team RUBY, led by… Ruby Rose."

The applause from the audience finally picked up as Beacon's youngest huntress stood there with a stunned smile on her face, until a yellow blur raced past Naruto and grabbed her in a bone crushing hug. Naruto watched on from the corner of his eyes keeping his face neutral as he stared out to the audience. It didn't matter much to him about their reactions or the attention from the media, it was all a part of the mission after all.

Still Naruto was grateful for getting Ruby as his leader and it had already been pre-arranged that he would not get the position, under respectful and diplomatic reasons. He knew when he needed to be a professional and when he didn't, he was representing the entirety of the Shinobi Alliance and the Elemental Nations and as far as things were concerned they were still enemies. He was here to gather information on them and provide them as little as possible about the Elemental Nations in return, lest it be used against them.

Well until an effective peace treaty had been established.

He gave the pair a small smile as the redhead tried to pry herself free from Yang's deadly embrace.

As Team RUBY stepped away from the stage Naruto could feel Ozpin's eyes lingering on him. He was going to be a troublesome opponent. Naruto quietly he heard the man mutter something under his breath as he stepped away from the microphone.

"It looks like this will be an interesting year."

 **Chapter End**

 **Authors note**

 **As I mentioned this chapter isn't my finest work and is a gateway to the rest of the story which will be a lot better. The initiation and exam were pretty pointless in my eyes other than introducing characters**

 **Please read and review. No pointless flaming, it disheartens writers from completing stories which are pointless since all you need to do is not read on a completely free site for stories.**

 **As I'm still wrapping my head around the story, I may do some edits in the future. The concept will remain the same. I have made a few small adjustments to the prologue and have mentioned it on the top Authors note, refer to that on any small changes or more specific info on the story.**

 **This was an exceptionally long chapter so I may have missed some things or said something off so I may edit this in the future, edits shouldn't be that significant.**

 **Read and Review**


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